


Pokéhero!

by Rabbit (Majorminor2242)



Series: ✨My Pokemon/My Hero Academia Crossovers!💥 [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: (Lucario is Worse), Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, But Universal Hugs Fix Everything, Midoriya Izuku Brings Pokémon Game to Life, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is Bad at Feelings, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Minor Plot Twists Throughout Story, Other, Pokemon, So don't worry, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Video Game Mechanics, kinda furry, you'll find out how
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 46,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24263659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majorminor2242/pseuds/Rabbit
Summary: When a strange game and device leaves a young boy dealing with unexpected altercations to his life and reality, as well as a mind-boggling method to achieve his dreams of heroism through six best-friends-to-be, he aims to become a hero just as he always dreamed of.In a world full of common mutations and super-powers, Izuku Midoriya has always found himself isolated. Partly due each to his gentle nature, introverted ways and suspected quirklessness, he found himself at the end of bullying for many years which left him starved of much positive attention...It was only when he truly discovered his quirk, that he found what he always wanted: both friends and family who would appreciate him for who he was.Now, follow his story, as this Pokémon Trainer plans to make it big as a top-tier hero with his team of trusty companions; no-one's going to stop them!(A/N: Occasional Izuku/Lucario cuddling fluff, I just think a Lucario would be cuddly -despite the spike- but NO LEMON)
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Pocket Monsters | Pokemon, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: ✨My Pokemon/My Hero Academia Crossovers!💥 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961224
Comments: 89
Kudos: 302





	1. Game-Changer

**Author's Note:**

> //AN: Yes this contains minute amounts of furry-ness within, but will contain NO lemon and only hints of slash if you squint, the worst that will happen will pretty much just be a couple cuddles of something, so it should be pretty readable for anybody if I'm honest, but whatever you want to do, do it. Since this is in the MHA universe, people with animal mutation quirks -such as Tsuyu or Miruko- are commonplace and widely adored, so I really don't think this should be much* different//
> 
> *to a degree
> 
> Why am I writing this?
> 
> A) Sleep Deprived.  
> B) Bored to a colossal magnitude.  
> C) Kinda need a break from the norm since that itself is exactly what's boring me during this endless damn lockdown.  
> D) Lucario looks like a secretly good hugger that I wish I had (despite his spikes).  
> E) Because I want to and honestly don't care about what anyone can say to me about my preferences in life. If I feel like writing furry sh*t then guess what I'm gonna do with no regrets? XD (Yes, there can exist a being who balances on the scale between anime and furry peacefully without destroying the solar system and every being within it.)
> 
> Anyway, hopefully enjoy -or absolutely hate- it. Either-or (since in the end you'll still be leaving extra hits on my story for clicking on it regardless haha :3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ BELOW -IMPORTANT!!!
> 
> In this AU, Izuku and Inko live in a small house, not an apartment, since it fits the requirements of this story. Also, whilst in Pokémon Glazed ROM Hack there are only three regions (Tunod, Johto and Rankor [only one of those is canon]) I have decided to make it where in this story, the game has ALL Pokémon regions, as well as ALL Pokémon to catch, which basically means there are like 50~ or so Gym badges in total and Pokémon from every generation. Pokémon also level up to lvl 100 as a maximum still, however it is almost TWICE as hard to get there, meaning evolutions and moves take double the training. The basically makes the Pokémon game near-endless (which is good for Izuku as it means he can't just 'complete the game' and get bored of it.

**^^^READ THE NOTES, THEY ARE IMPORTANT.^^^**

Since he was five years old, quirkless Izuku Midoriya has always found incomparable pleasure in playing retro games found in his attic. It started off by him finding a small chest that held the initials of his great grandfather's when he had asked his mother if he could explore the loft in their small house. She had smiled and agreed, knowing how adventurous her flamboyant son could be, warning him to not breath in too much dust but sending him on his way up the ladder (safely).

At first, he had wondered what could be so special that it needed to be preserved inside such an ornate wooden box like this one was, since it had been hidden underneath a dusty tarp. He would have missed it if he hadn't checked in the corner of the room.

Upon opening it, Izuku found one of the most life-changing devices to impact his future. For inside that box that predated several centuries, was a small, antique collection of devices and consoles that were considered as legendary to the current day.

Of course, Izuku didn't know any of this at all. All he saw was a device that flipped open like a portable, sideways phone with two screens and buttons. Izuku assumed that 'Nintendo DS' was the label of the device as it was written on the back. He also found another handheld device, only this one was single-screened and read 'Gameboy Advance' on it in vibrant, red colours. Both devices looked worn, yet thoroughly loved, as neither had a single scratch on them, only displaying a slight discolouration from being obviously continuously held in the past.

Beside these two devices that he did not recognise but stared at in childish awe and curiosity, lay an entire _horde_ of miniature little game-cartridges and roms. All of them were colourful and eye-catching, displaying varying graphical designs and patterns, but many of them splitting into clear groups by the names. He found that a large majority of them all began with the word 'Pokémon' and ended with varying adjectives such as 'Crystal', or 'Emerald'.

His eyes caught one cartridge called 'Pokémon Diamond version', which had a very cool looking design and seemed to fit the hole in the 'Nintendo DS', but then beside that one was an even more unique looking one, except this one had a bit of tape wrapped around it and read 'Pokémon Glazed Rom' in red ink. This one was much larger, and seemed to plug into the back of the 'Gameboy Advance' snuggly.

Izuku was about to try and turn one of the devices on to see if it still worked, but was thoroughly disappointed when he heard his mother call him from downstairs for dinner, chuckling at how long he had spent up there scouring through the old tidbits and 'fossils' (as Inko liked to call them as she never found any interest in most of the junk she had stored away).

Izuku pouted at not having enough time to find out what these devices were or did, however decided not to let that get him down. He carefully picked up the box, latching it closed for safety, before walking back over to the hole in the floor where his mother awaited with open arms to lift him back down the ladder.

"Oh, what have you found there, Izu-kun?" the woman smiled as she noticed the small chest that was cradled between the boy's arms.

"It looks like some kind of games system, but I dunno." he grinned, which lit a flame beneath the mother's heart.

"Well, okay then, but don't go staying up too late playing them -if they still work that is. Dinner's ready now, too, so how about we leave those for tomorrow?"

"Awww... alright mum." he then zoomed out of her grip and down the corridor, down the stairs and into the dining room to feast on the food there to distract his occupied mind.

* * *

It was well past Izuku's bedtime, but still he lay there, mind unable to enforce sleep. His eyes kept drifting over towards the box that now lay ever so tantalisingly close to his bed.

He wasn't sure why, but something seemed to be pulling him towards it. Like gravity, or something more...

He tore away his gaze when he caught himself staring blankly at the thing, before rolling over in bed to face away from it.

'Not gonna open it. Not gonna open it. I need sleep for school and other stuff, I'll be super tired if I start playing now!-" The last sentence hardly finished when he caught himself leaning backwards and staring once more at the box, which brought a blush to his face at his own obliviousness and his strange obsessive behaviour.

"... Ugh, _fine..."_ he grumbled as he eventually resigned to simply pull the box towards him and open it up. Within less than a minute, he found himself devastatingly disappointed to find that neither of the two devices seemed to be working. For a moment, he felt like that was that and he'd never know why he was feeling so drawn to them, however in a surge of desperation, the young boy had an idea.

Looking at the back, he found that one of the two devices ran on replaceable batteries, and the other said it could be recharged with a charging cable. Looking at the size of the cable and knowing that they didn't own one that shape, he settled to try looking for some batteries around his room. Eventually, he found one inside a robotic puppy toy from his last birthday, and another within a remote that controlled a toy car.

A strange surge of energy tingled through his skin as he turned on the Gameboy, checking that the same game from earlier, 'Pokémon Glazed (Rom)', was still inside.

The moment the device booted up and shone a brilliant glow in the darkness of night, Izuku knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep any time soon.

Starting up the game, the boy smiled in awe at the clean yet retro look on the screen. It was clear that this game must have predated the era of emerging quirks, however that just made it seem so much cooler and authentic to him. The title screen was vibrant and the intro sequence was awesome, with him seeing some kinds of strange yet cool looking animals just about everywhere.

Pressing 'START', he was instantly introduced to an old looking man wearing smart, casual clothes. He had a grey moustache and looked warm and friendly.

A box of text appeared at the bottom of the screen: _'Hello! Welcome to the Tunod region! My name is Professor Willow, but most people just call me the Pokémon Professor. This is what we call a "Pokémon":'_

Right before Izuku's eyes, a small, adorably cute green animal flashed out of a small red and white ball in the man's hand. The animal was green and brown, with a small twig standing out of its head. It's eyes seemed to radiate with joy.

_'This world is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon. We humans live alongside Pokémon, at times as friendly playmates, and at times as cooperative workmates. Sometimes, we band together to battle or compete against others. These are known as "Pokémon Trainers".'_

_'Despite everything, however, we still don't know everything about Pokémon. In fact, there are many, many secrets surrounding Pokémon! To unravel Pokémon mysteries, I've dedicated my life towards researching them, mostly in hopes to bridge an even closer bond between humans and their Pokémon. This is where you come in, however. I am far too old to explore the world and discover new things like I used to, and so I therefore require a bold, young individual such as yourself to take up my reigns!'_

_'Would you like to become a Pokémon Trainer?'_

_**YES/no** _

_'Oh, excellent! I'm sure you must be excited for what new adventures await!. Now, are you a boy or are you a girl?'_

_**BOY/girl** _

_'Aha, so you're a rowdy boy, eh? And what is your name?'_

Izuku typed out his own name, not really wanting to change it for anything else.

The smile on the screen faltered only briefly as man paused, almost as though he was startled by this answer, before coughing and recovering, the motions looking unnatural within the pixelated screen. Izuku lifted an eyebrow at the strange moment. _That didn't seem like that should have happened._

 _'Hmm, I-Izuku, is it? I see, that's definitely a name I can see competing at the top of the region's Pokémon League!_ **-and** **more**." the last two words weren't spoken by the Professor, but seemed to have glitched onto the screen only a fractured second, leaving the boy even further baffled by these enigmatic things that he could only convince himself were _meant_ to be part of the game. _"_ _Anyway, don't let this old coot hold you for so long. I'm sure you have a legendary adventure awaiting to unfold, so are you ready? Take courage and be brave; there are many regions for you to explore, all filled with opportunities to form bonds of dreams, adventure and friendship with Pokémon! I'll be waiting for you in my lab, young Midoriya! Don't take too long, your Pokémon partner is waiting for you!"_

The screen blacked out, before showing a small bedroom inside a house, however that was not what Izuku was currently focussed on.

_H-how did he know my last name...? I never entered anything about 'Midoriya' in there anywhere...!_

Gulping and pushing away as much of his worry as he could (as it was only a game, after all -right?), he then spent the beginning mostly just trying to figure out how the buttons worked. It was a simple layout, thankfully, so once he worked out the movement and basics, he was all set to begin.

Leaving the small house he began in, he was briefly greeted by his 'virtual mum and dad', before he was left to roam and explore the small town he 'lived' in.

After entering every house and talking with all the people he could find, eventually Izuku came across a large white building that seemed like it may be the 'Lab' that the Professor was talking about. Upon entering, he was indeed greeted by said professor, before he was told that he could choose between the starting Pokémon of this region.

Walking up to the small, round capsules, Izuku was prompted with five choices:

 **Turtwig** **\- The Tiny Leaf Pokémon: Photosynthesis occurs across its body under the sun, producing oxygen. The shell on its back is actually hardened soil, which hardens further when it drinks, however the leaves on its head wilt whenever it is dehydrated.** This was the same Pokémon he had seen at the very beginning. It seemed to have some connection to nature, and Izuku already decided that he rather liked this one, as it smiled warmly and looked really cool. It also reminded him of himself and his own personality.

 **Chimchar - The Chimp Pokémon: Its fiery rear end is fueled by gas made in its belly. Even rain can’t extinguish the fire, and it is only extinguished when it sleeps. It agilely scales sheer cliffs to live atop craggy mountains.** This one was a small, red monkey who had a a curly tuft of hair, as well as fire coming from its rear. At first Izuku was worried that the poor creature was burning, but then realised that it must have been pretty normal if it was smiling so much. This one clearly had a connection to fire.

 **Piplup - The Penguin Pokémon: It lives along shores in northern countries. A skilled swimmer, it dives for over 10 minutes to hunt. Because it is very proud, it hates accepting food from people. Its thick down guards it from cold.** This one was undeniably adorable, as it seemed to be modelled off a baby penguin. If Izuku had to guess, then this one must have something to do with water if the other two were nature and fire themed.

 **Shinx - The Flash Pokémon. When Shinx flexes its muscles, it generates electricity. When it senses danger, the hairs on its body light up and it runs away, leaving its opponent dazed.** This one looked like a small, blue and black lion who had yellow features and a smile on its face. Unlike the other three, Izuku had no idea what type this one could be from looks, but according to the entry on it, it had something to do with electricity?

Finally, he looked at the last one and his eyes widened at the small sprite on the screen. **Riolu** **\- The Emanation Pokémon: When sad or scared, Riolu's aura becomes stronger as a way of signalling its allies. Riolu has the power to see and understand emotions like happiness and anger in aura waves.**

Summarising them all, Izuku's favourites were Turtwig and Riolu. The Turtwig due to its affinity for nature and how it seemed very friendly and kind, and the Riolu for how impressive it looked. It was bipedal, and seemed to be referenced to a jackal in its features, however it had bright blue and black fur. On the backs of its paws were small ridges that seemed to be bone sticking out to protect it from breaking its arms, and it stood in a combat-red posture, red eyes piercing the screen with fearsome serenity and focus.

"I wish I could have both, I just don't know how to choose! The Turtwig I feel has more resemblance to me, but the Riolu looks way cooler! Plus it reminds me of Kacchan in some ways..."

It took a minute or two of deliberation, however eventually, Izuku decided to go with the Riolu. Exactly like earlier with the old box, he felt a strange, indescribable tug towards both of the Pokémon, however sadly he knew he could only have one. The moment he confirmed his choice, Izuku could have sworn he saw the smallest smirk tug at the pixelated creature's mouth, almost as though the Riolu were gloating or proud of some inside knowledge it held -perhaps akin to winning a bet- however the moment Izuku squinted and checked again, the small quirk in it's seemingly eternally stoic and narrowed expression had disappeared, leaving him to wonder if he had ever seen it at all.

_W-weird... But must have been my imagination..._

Just as Izuku went to leave the laboratory and start his adventure, the Professor stopped him abruptly. _'Oh?_ _What's this? I seem to have miscounted how many Pokémon I caught for you young trainers... Young Izuku, this Turtwig doesn't seem to have any future trainer. It's up to you, however should you want to, I'm willing to give you this Turtwig to join you as well, otherwise it would simply be stuck in its Pokéball for who knows how long!'_ the pixellated Professor beamed at the screen as Izuku blanched.

_'Would you like to accept the Turtwig as well?'_

__**YES/no** _ _

"D-did... w-was... Was this planned? O-or did he actually hear what I said?!" Izuku blinked at the screen, trying to comprehend the offer. He had wanted both of these Pokémon... but was it just coincidence that he got them both? What were the odds of that if it were random?

Before his head could overheat any further (and ultimately explode), Izuku just clicked _YES_ and tried to push past his worry, marking it down as pure luck.

_'Great! I'm glad I could give this Turtwig to a good home, I'm sure you'll treat it well -call it a suspicion! Now, one last thing: I'd like to give you one of these!'_

**_'Professor Willow handed over the POKéTCH!'_ **

_'Now this here is a superb device for dedicated trainers such as yourself! What it does is record data on any Pokémon you find, as well as extra info on any you catch in its POKéDEX! Not only that, but it can track your party Pokémons' moveset, natures, statistics and more! But even_ that's _not all! As with this latest model, I've even managed to add modification apps such as an inbuilt CALCULATOR, WATCH, MAP and many more! I've also just finished developing a_ _prototype app that is exclusive to this Pokétch alone, which is a feature that translates the Pokémon language for you to understand! This should allow for you to grow much closer to your own Pokémon, as well as wild ones!'_

**_'Izuku obtained the POKéTCH! He secured it on his wrist like a watch.'_ **

"Whoa, that all sounds awesome! If only I had one of these in real life, it must be so useful!" Izuku gazed wide-eyed at the screen.

_'Now, young Izuku, I believe it is time you set off! Your grand journey of adventure awaits; don't keep it waiting! _Oh, I almost forgot! I should probably also give you some POKéBALLs to start off as well!_ '_

**_'Izuku obtained five POKéBALLs. He put them in his bag.'_ **

_'Good luck!'_ the door to the lab closed as Izuku's sprite was left standing outside.

For hours, he then continued to play, figuring out how to fight with the creatures; his first experience as a trainer being a fight against an adorable yet sassy, yellow, mouse-like Pokémon called a 'Pikachu'. It wore a bright red scarf, which seemed like an unusual thing to expect from the small critters (even if Izuku had hardly seen any of them yet), however it also seemed confusingly feisty towards him in-game, and though Izuku managed to win with both his level 5 Riolu and Turtwig, after the fight, his sprite asked the Pikachu why it was so angry at him. It then demanded Izuku's name (knowing he could understand it due to the in-game sprite telling it). The moment it heard 'Izuku', however, it's expression fell entirely into one of shock, before the Pikachu sprite instantly began apologising profusely, before it asked for him to catch it and help it become really strong.

Thinking over adding The Pokémon to his party, Izuku decided to catch it. Partly because it had asked nicely and apologised for being mean earlier, and also because he thought having an electric Pokémon would be super helpful and strong.

As time unknowingly flew by, gradually Izuku managed to level up his first three Pokémon, who he had nicknamed 'Riu' the Riolu, 'Tor' the Turtwig and 'Volt' the Pikachu. It was another thing that he wasn't sure why, but an urge in his gut was telling him that the Pokémon would all like those names.

By the time they had gained quite a chunk of experience, as well as learnt a couple new moves, it was bright outside Izuku's window, with birds chirping as his alarm to get ready for school went off.

"Well guys, I guess I should probably get ready for school..." he made no effort to mask the disappointment in his voice, but only a few seconds later, he then felt an unexplainable sense of overwhelming happiness and reassurance overcome him, washing over his disappointment and helping remind him that he was still able to return to the game the moment he got back from school. "Yeah, I shouldn't get sad about this! I'll have all afternoon to come back and keep training you to be big and strong, and soon, we're both going to become the best Team that this world has ever seen!" the four year-old exclaimed ecstatically, before jumping out of bed and powering off the game -thankfully not before remembering to save it -lest he lose all of that progress made so far!

Feeling a little sleepy, however having most of his exhaustion be swept away by adrenaline-inducing prospect of continuing later, he rushed to get ready. His first thought was to tell Kacchan all about the incredible new game he found in his attic.

_Maybe Kacchan would like to see him play too sometime?_

Little did Izuku know to what degree, however, that fate through forces of divine intervention had brought forth the beginning of something monumental.


	2. Game Boy

Izuku was in his first year of middle school when it happened. For the past few years, he had spent an unfathomable amount of time playing and completing all of the games that he had stored away within his great-grandfather's box, however ultimately, no matter how many he played, hardly any of them could quite compare to the very first one. He wasn't sure why, but something just felt... connected to him in the strangest of ways. Several times throughout the game, strange occurrences happened that made it feel almost surreal and just so much more immersive.

It felt like the game was alive, in some vague sense.

It was just such a long game, however, that it seemed almost endless -which then again, was in a way a very good thing, since it meant Izuku could always have fun and discover new things and Pokémon between the many regions

However, it was only when he was out in the courtyard, playing on his Gameboy that original game once more (the first time he'd ever risked bringing his games to school as well), that Kacchan had sauntered over and begun to pick on him in front of his group of lackeys -likely to impress them as always with his incredible quirk.

"Oi, Deku! Whatcha got there then? Some kind of old game?" the boy made an attempt to swipe it from his hands, however Izuku shielded it in a hug as he shuffled back.

"Y-yes, I-I don't want it to b-break though-" he was caught off guard as Kacchan abruptly shouldered him, meanwhile plucking the device from his fingers.

"Pffft, shut the hell up nerd, I'll look at it if I damn want to. And anyway, it looks pretty old, where'd you find it, in a trashcan or an alley?" the blonde boy then grinned maliciously as he dangled the device out away from Izuku's reach, before tossing it over his shoulder. Thankfully, one of his lackey's caught it flying towards them, so it wasn't broken -yet.

"H-hey! No, give it back that's mine!" Izuku was under no disillusion that his Gameboy and DS were both equally rare and antique, and especially irreplaceable due to their age. He couldn't afford to lose them, since there was no way he could ever ensure getting a replacement without having to pay unaffordable amounts, and the parts for repairing them simply wouldn't be in production anymore either.

The group then began to toss it around the panicking, desperate Izuku, who was close to tears at the situation. "G-GIVE IT BACK!" he tried barging through the impromptu defence that currently surrounded Kacchan as he turned the game on, however was unable to breach through to the centre to retrieve it.

The blond raised an eyebrow, before snorting at the game that appeared on the screen. "Pokémon? Sounds like a game for babies, what the hell even is this?! Why is this pile of trash so important to you anyways, Deku, it's nothing but chunky, shitty pixels!" the blonde rolled his eyes. The game clattered to the ground, skidding and scratching audibly on the concrete.

Before Izuku had the chance to rush towards it, face already contorting into horror and fear at the possible outcome, he was jabbed in the shoulder, then encircled by leering faces, voices all calling him names, berating and belittling him. He was left half sat on the floor, slowly curling up further and further in insecurity as he was unable to escape from the onslaught of mocking words and insults.

Nobody saw the first punch that collided with someone at the back of the group, followed by another, and then another. Every attack was strategically executed and left them all none-the-wiser as their numbers were thinned. Eventually, however, people began to notice now that the noise was dying down. Izuku still had his face hidden, as his mind took some time to register the sound of a growl, followed by several thumps landing around him, but just before he managed to steel his nerves enough to look up in confused curiosity (but still fearful of Kacchan and his group continuing their jeers), he felt two soft, warm, fur-covered arms encircle him, before lifting him up into a hug. Without any explanation, he found his head resting against what appeared to be black coloured fur, and receiving a comforting nuzzle to the top of his head, a single sound following which threw Izuku into the most confused-denial-state in his life.

"Riu?" it was phrased as a worried question, but to Izuku the word made no sense. Before he could angle his head to look up at his apparent saviour, however, a growl rumbled from the chest against him. He was shocked at how protective and ferocious it sounded. At the same time, he heard Kacchan inhale nearby, before half screaming.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

That was the last straw, as now Izuku had had enough of being left so confused. He had his suspicions at to who it could be, however they seemed pretty impossible, so to say he was unprepared to be proven wrong would be an understatement.

As looking up, he was met with two piercing crimson eyes warmly staring back at him, framed by a horizontal band of black fur that looked like a mask, with blue fur covering the rest of its head. It had canine-like features everywhere Izuku looked, the creature reminding him much of the Egyptian God Anubis, the only strange thing about it being the two tear-drop shaped, black appendages protruding from the back sides of its head.

"R-Riolu...?" his breath caught in his throat as the creature in response smiled brightly through its usually stoic glare.

"Rio!" Izuku presumed that was it confirming it.

"B-but... h-how are you... w-why-" he trailed off, unable to find a single question he wanted answered between the dozens that currently plagued his racing mind.

Its eyes then snapped back towards Kacchan, startling Izuku with another, more defensive growl.

_H-he's protecting me?_

Turning his gaze towards Bakugou, the blonde scowled, steeling his previously usurped expression as close to normal as he could. Red met red in a fearsome clash as two pairs of piercing, animalistic gazes locked with each other, both daring the other to make the first move. Riolu was still holding Izuku protectively, muzzle upturned and showing glinting, sharp teeth, whilst Kacchan looked simply rabid, teeth grinding.

"Answer me! The fuck _are_ you?!" the boy growled.

His only response was Riolu setting Izuku down onto his feet, before stepping forward towards Bakugou, who in turn began to slink forward as well.

The blonde threw the first fist, a heavy right hook flying from his side with miniature explosions crackling from his palm, clearly in preparation to scorch the fur it hit.

Before Izuku even had the chance to call out in worry, The Pokémon shifted its weight fluidly, letting Katsuki fly past him, before using the boy's momentum against him by landing a hard shove from behind, pushing him off balance and crashing to the floor.

Standing up, Bakugou released the most feral growl Izuku had ever heard, before he launched forward again, his pride clearly overtaking all sense of control.

But every punch that was thrown was easily dodged, ducked, deflected and blocked gracefully as Riolu took small, steady steps backwards. After a final hook, The Pokémon seemed to find a fault to capitalise in, as he shot his own fist forward in his first strike, which momentarily stunned Katsuki as suddenly, a fist collided with his face, knocking him flat on the ground and shockingly, out cold.

Midoriya didn't even notice when he had arrived home, mind too overloaded in momentary crisis at the sequential events that had just occurred. It seemed like Riolu had knocked on the door when he spaced out in front of it again, however when Inko answered, snapping him out of his daze, he was startlingly shocked to find that Riolu was nowhere to be seen.

Looking down at his hands, he noticed his Gameboy resting flat in his palms, screen turned on and displaying the page of his Pokémon team in-game.

It displayed that Riolu had lost five health points out of his total one-hundred.

_So does that mean that this was all a dream and I imagined he was real? Or is that damage from when he was guarding against Kacchan's hits?_

One thing for sure, was that Izuku _knew_ he couldn't have imagined the brief reassuring smile that flashed on the screen this time. 

He didn't sleep well that night. Or the next, however in the end, it was all summed up to his own imagination, since from that day, it hadn't happened again no matter how hard Izuku tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh this was a bit rushed, but I was really struggling on how I wanted this to work, so in the end I just have what I have since I don't know how I could really make it better right now.
> 
> Hopefully the next few chapters aren't as difficult to work out in my head/write... '^^


	3. Team-Player

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> READ THE NOTES IT IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am changing the way that Evolution and levels work slightly (for plot convenience) in that evolutions come in just slightly later levels, and overall are MUCH harder to attain. Levelling up a Pokémon yields far MORE bonus stats, however also takes much more time and effort to do. This means that basically, Pokémon are MUCH stronger than usual in that a level thirty team in this would be able to take out the canon games' Pokémon League (all averaging about Level 60 Pokémon), but they can still reach up to Level 100, making them suitably strong in the MHA universe. Imagine a level 100 Pokémon in this story being about as strong as All Might and you'll see what I mean.
> 
> This basically means that:
> 
> In the games, a level 1 Pokémon is frail and level 100 is strong.  
> In this story, a level 1 Pokémon is weak (but not quite frail), a level 50 one is strong, and a level 100 one is simply OP. Each level however takes DOUBLE the amount of EXP required to grow (meaning technically, it's like they have to go through 200 levels instead of 100)
> 
> If there are any questions still on this, please ask in the comments but that's basically all it is and I'm doing this simply because it makes Pokémon fit into the My Hero Academia universe much more easily like this, than like with The Pokémon Game mechanics as they usually are.

Midoriya was in his last year of middle school when it _did_ happen again. For a while, he had forced himself away from the games, believing that they were driving him insane from over-playing them, however eventually, it was impossible to resist the innate pull he felt towards them.

Right now, they were inside his bag, as since that day, Izuku had been very extra careful to keep them away from Bakugou. Due to not seeing it on him for a long time after that day, the boy believed he had truly broken it, however the dark glares and snarls sent Izuku's way never eased up.

In fact, the blonde had just finished up mocking how Izuku didn't seem to have his 'blue and black saviour now', followed by telling him to _jump off the roof in hopes for a quirk in his next life_. Or at least, it was something along those lines. Izuku just didn't often bother listening anymore.

"He really shouldn't be saying that. What if I really jumped? What would he do then?" Izuku grumbled to the empty classroom, before walking to the courtyard beside the building and finding his charred hero notebook floating in the koi pond. Having had enough of seeing the irony of fish that reminded him of Magikarp nibbling at his dreams, he placed the soggy, burnt book into his bag, before taking out the electronic Gameboy and deciding to play it a bit to calm down as he walked home.

In the game, his team now consisted of his recently evolved Riolu, _Lucario,_ followed by his Grotle (Turtwig's second out of three evolutions) and the red-scarfed Pikachu. He also traded for a level five Charmander called 'Zephyr' (or 'Zeph' for short) which he dedicated to levelling up as he knew it's final form was a literal dragon(!!!), as well as caught a super cute Buizel who he named 'Bui'! His final Pokémon, an Eevee he found in a forest on his journey, had seemingly taken a liking to him from the get-go, practically jumping into a Pokéball without any hesitation. Izuku decided to call her Ahri because of how adorable she was.

Overall, he had a pretty diverse team and had fun especially in taking on Gym battles in both regions of the game, as well as testing his team in endurance matches in the Battle Towers. His Pokémon were only level thirty or so out of one hundred, which demonstrated just how much potential to grow they still had, but that didn't stop them from being impressively awesome. Levelling them up was earnest work, but never boring to him so he couldn't really complain.

Izuku was just walking through an underpass when without any warning, a manhole cover collided into him from below, knocking him onto his rear, followed by a viscous sludge that cackled, murderous eyes roaming Izuku.

 _"Perfect, a medium-sized skin-suit! Hold still kid, **I just want to take over your body!"**_ before Izuku could stand up, the villain slammed down into his body, before enveloping him like an inescapable jelly prison. Gradually, he was starved of oxygen, black filling his petrified vision, until all of a sudden something slammed into his size painfully, but successfully freeing him just enough out of the sludge to gulp a deep, desperate breath before it ensnared him again.

Barely managing to open his eyes from within the murky sludge, he was able to make out several colourful figures, all varying in size and shape, however none of them were at all distinguishable due to the warped, fractured vision the dirty goop caused. He could only pray that they were here to save him, otherwise he really _was_ about to die.

Suddenly, however, water with the power of a high-pressure jet-hose cascaded towards both him and the villain, and miraculously it was blowing away chunks and pieces of the sludge! Slowly but surely, the feeling of sticky sludge was replaced with freezing -but thankfully clean- water. He was still half laying down, half sitting up as this happened, so he wasn't at risk of being blown over (which with the pressure of this water, would definitely have happened), however when it finally died down and he was left wiping his sopping wet hair out of his squinting eyes, what the boy saw promptly sent him into a catatonic state as he collapsed backwards in an unconscious daze.

* * *

Waking up had felt completely bizarre and frankly indescribable. He could somehow feel his own bed beneath him -despite knowing that he had last been laying on concrete-, however that wasn't all that was there. It seemed like he was being rested on from several locations, as something was laying on his stomach, another next to his head, one was nestled into the indent of his shoulder, with two more each on either side of him, and finally the last one being on-top of his legs. They all felt cosily warm against him, easily compensating for the lack of a blanket, and he could feel that he was no longer sopping wet and cold, which must have been why he was cocooned like this in the first place, however the suspense was growing unbearable. He had to know...

_Was what I last saw really real or was I imagining it?_

Eyes creaking open in suspicious terror and caution, the boy only dared to angle his head as best he could downwards _without_ notifying the things resting against him, however what his eyes met was a picture he was in _no way_ prepared for, despite his confirmed, hopeful suspicions.

As resting against him, all sleeping peacefully, were six Pokémon- the exact same six that made up his irreplaceable team within his game.

A snoozing Eevee rested on his stomach, curled up in a ball and wearing an adorable expression in its sleep. On his right was Lucario, who still wore a frown in his sleep, yet seemingly less troubled. On the opposite side was his Buizel, who wore the most neutral, slack face of the bunch, simply enjoying the embrace of sleep. Then beside his neck stuck out a small tuft of yellow fur in his peripheral vision, followed by a lightning-bolt shaped tail, who he could already safely presume was Pikachu. Directly above and behind his head was Grotle, and finally, glancing around in confusion, Izuku saw his last companion, Charmeleon, who was currently curled up just past his feet at the foot of the bed. Lucario was the only one who wasn't outright hugged against him, whilst Buizel was spread out wide and slightly across his chest, snoring lightly -and joined by the softly breathed snores from Pikachu. 

Izuku could feel his heartrate begin to skyrocket, however forced himself not to squeak a single sound as he tried to piece together the situation he was currently in. Apparently that wasn't enough, however, as a deep, gruff voice suddenly echoed within his head inquisitively.

 _"So you're finally awake? Took you long enough."_ came a sassy, sarcastic retort.

 _"GAH w-what the hell?!?!"_ he couldn't suppress the harsh whisper that escaped, but thankfully no-one else woke up to it.

 **"Jeez, calm down, Master, it's only me."** following that sentence, Izuku found his attention drawn to the ruby red eyes that stared up at him from beside him.

_"L-Lucario? P-Pokémon? A-and now a voice in my head... Oh God is this all real? Are you real? Am I dreaming? Wait am I crazy, I wouldn't be surprised since I was pretty convinced that I imagined the last time I saw you and so I really woul-"_

The voice snorted inside his head, before responding **_"No, you aren't crazy. Just... very oblivious when you want to be."_**

_...S-so I'm not going mad and you're a-actually real?_

If a voice could shrug, it did. **_"You tell me. Do we not look real to you?"_**

_That- Wait- What but that doesn't explain anything at all! Dreams can look real at the time too!_

He watched as The Pokémon rolled his eyes, before it reached over and nudged the sleeping Buizel. Its eyes opened slowly, taking a moment to yawn, before it released a questioning _"Bui?"_ directed towards Lucario. The Pokémon in turn responded vocally ("Lu- car.") whilst gesturing towards me, and suddenly the Buizel's eyes lit up in innocent joy as it bolted upright in excitement, the sound and movement alerting the others sleeping, and soon enough, Izuku's room was filled with a cacophony of noise as the Pokémon all elatedly jumping next to or on to him, all expressing their excitement.

Unable to keep his expression neutral as the happy atmosphere infected him too, Izuku turned his confused smile towards Lucario. "What are they all saying?"

**_'Well, they're all just really happy to finally meet their trainer. It's taken long enough, we've been waiting for a long time for this you know.'_ **

"R-really? But h-how long?"

**_'As I said; long enough.'_ **

No more was said as Izuku at least understood the general reason for the joyful, playful attitudes of the Pokémon, not that he was able to ask any more questions regardless since Eevee and Pikachu were all sitting on his chest, both playing with him whilst the other slightly larger Pokémon crowded around as well. It was impossible for him to not simply let loose and play with the Pokémon, the childish side within him being brought to the forefront as what could only be surmounted as his biggest fantasy dream became reality.

_He was really touching, playing and interacting with Pokémon! HIS Pokémon!_

"Wait, but how am I back here in my room?" the sudden question cut off all other noise as everyone stilled, before five Pokémon all looked towards Lucario to be their voice.

**_'After beating that muk-like thing in the alleyway, we all carried you home. Your mother isn't home yet, so I had to break the lock.'_ **

"W-wai- what?! Why did you _do_ that?! Now my mom's going to kill me, replacing locks isn't easy since they aren't supposed to be broken into!"

 ** _'No need, it came out entirely. I kinda punched a hole through your front door. Accidentally.'_** the flippant voice he used only served to annoy the boy as he stared at him in horror at the prospect of having to explain why their front door needed replacing entirely now, but that could come later. For now, Izuku had to figure out either how to hide all of these Pokémon, or a way to explain to his mother what Pokémon are and why there were several currently in his bedroom (an answer that he still didn't know himself).

"Oh G-God... Uhmm... Do you guys know if you can disappear again?" almost all of The Pokémon blinked at him in semi-hurt confusion, their faces all saying: _'You really want us to go already?'._

"N-no no nonono! Not permanently! Just until I can figure out how to tell my mom about you guys and stuff without there being a scene! I'll try to prepare her for the idea of you all existing first, since my mother can be... very emotionally driven -including by surprise- so it would be fair to expect her to faint..."

All six Pokémon resolutely nodded -if reluctantly. It was Buizel, who brought Izuku's attention to the device currently clasped around his wrist. "Wait a minute... this looks like the Pokétch from the game! How... Wait where's my Gameboy?" Bui rolled his eyes before pointing towards the watch-like device. "This is my Gameboy?"

Izuku held his wrist up, inspecting it with almost childish fascination. He may be fourteen now, but you couldn't blame him for being stupefied by all these seemingly endless surprising revelations.

Unable to stop himself, he clicked a thin, sleek button that ran down the side, and with no preparation for what was about to happen, Izuku yelped when a blinding flash of light was produced, and suddenly he found the screen displaying his six Pokémon party. He wanted to ask Lucario to explain when, why and how the handheld console had moulded to his wrist (it definitely made carrying it, and in turn his Pokémon, much more convenient), however looking up he was met with a once more and now noticeably disheartening empty room.

The silence was already off-putting and felt so wrong already, despite not ever being any different until the past few hours.

 _"Don't worry. The moment I explain to my mom what's going on, I'm definitely getting you all back out here!"_ he stated with determination.

The pixellated creatures on the display all lit up in ecstatic smiles, before returning to their neutral expressions, leaving anyone who _didn't_ know there were sentient Pokémon within the device as none-the-wiser.


	4. First Battle, Possibility and Opportunity!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names and Current Evolutions of Izuku's Pokémon:
> 
> Lucario - Riu  
> Pikachu - Volt  
> Buizel - Bui  
> Grotle - Tor  
> Charmeleon - Zephyr  
> Eevee/Eeveelutions - Ahri

"So by 'beating the Grimer thing' yesterday, you meant you just LEFT HIM THERE?!" Izuku practically screeched as he dove into a roll sideways in order to narrowly avoid another sludge tendril from lashing out and whipping him, but in the process he scraped his arms on the ground and didn't realise that the attack had followed him from above.

Lucario was currently trying to distract it himself up close, but was having little luck as every time he went close he risked getting caught by the sludge and was forced to dodge. To everyones' chagrin, the villain seemed capable of his body to have several more appendages in order to try and attack everyone.

Just as Izuku was about to be slammed into the ground from above, he then reopened his eyes once he realised that something was sheltering him. All he could see was a shell-like armour and four thick, sturdy legs surrounding him.

"T-Tor! Thanks for that!" The Grove Pokémon tilted its he'd downwards and gave him a smile as he reared up from his protective position to stand in front of Izuku and facing the sludge villain who was furiously screaming.

"Damnit! Damnit damnit DAMNIT! You little _brat!_ Your little animals may have saved you yesterday, but you're not escaping again!" he went to rise up like a tidal wave, hoping to reach Izuku and suffocate him to death to take over his body (as he had said and done the day before).

Thankfully, Izuku spotted his Pokémon all surrounding the villain from different angles as he lashed out defensively. This was their chance. "Volt, shock him still so he can't dodge! Bui, Water gun any appendages that reach out and become a threat! Tor, use Light Screen, followed with a counter Solar Beam! Finally, Zephyr use Flamethrower right in his core!"

The three Pokémon nodded as Pikachu released a bolt of about one million volts into the sludge man and Bui began blasting off chunks of the sludge, as Grotle tanked the wave attack aimed their way and retaliated with Solar Beam which took a second to charge up. As he was doing that, Charmeleon spewed a stream of devastatingly hot fire towards the centre of the villain, who slowly heated up in his gelatinous structure and expanded. His core was beginning to glow a hot, neon red as the villain noticed and did his very best not to practically explode into a splat on all walls. But then Solar Beam finally released, hitting him straight on and practically enveloping him in a green beam of blinding light.

As smoke and dust settled, All seven of them peering forward, all desperate to gage if they were safe to relax. Lucario finally spoke up and relieved them all, "His aura has spread everywhere, just like he did. The villain should be unconscious now." Everyone cheered at hearing that.

"Awesome! Great job guys! We did amazing! I can't believe that was our first ever villain battle... Even though we're technically disobeying the law from that? Then again, he was kinda threatening my life both today _and_ almost killed me yesterday, so I think that just counts as self defence...?"

Lucario was about to mention something about the smiling, beefy man silently approaching them, however thought it best if he himself were to remain silent in order to ambush the man from behind if he proved as a threat.

 **"Yes, young man. If that was the case, and this villain attacked you first in attempts to kill you, you are justified to use your quirk in self defence so do not worry."** Izuku jolted, wheeling slowly on his heels as he processed the voice he knew best after only maybe his own or his mother's -if that.

"A-A-ALL M-MIGHT! Oh my gosh, I need to- where's a pen- _WHY DON'T I HAVE A PEN ON ME?!?!"_ as Izuku continued to root around in his school backpack for something to get the World's Number One Hero (and his most respected idol) to sign, the buff, towering man just chuckled heartily.

 **"Ahhh, fanboys will always be fanboys, won't they?"** he shook his head as Izuku blushed meekly. **"Well now, come on then! I didn't say I wouldn't give you an autograph anyway! To be honest young man, that was a pretty astounding fight for someone as young and inexperienced as you are. Oh, and who might these be? I saw you commanding them in battle- your leadership and tactical combat senses were truly impressive!"**

Midoriya blushed as he heard the most incredible man in the world say 'he was impressive and astounding', brain almost stalling until out of nowhere, Eevee jumped up and onto his shoulder, giving a beamingly bright smile towards the stranger and an adorable _"Vee!"_

 **"Oh, and who might _you_ be, little one?!" **All Might felt his heart almost give from the shockingly adorable little creature that was smiling at him like an innocent child.

"T-that's Ahri, she's an Eevee. B-before you ask, no, none of them are from our world technically, though that's something I need to put more thought into soon..."

**"How interesting! It sounds like you could make an absolutely incredible hero someday if that were the route you wanted to take."**

"T-thats very high praise from you All Might, thank you, but it's mostly them who are the impressive ones, they have the power and ability, I don't. I'm only good for planning and thinking ahead to help them." Izuku said humbly, as he knew his Pokémon were undoubtedly the true contributors to the team -and being honestly, it slightly disappointed Izuku that he seemingly couldn't provide much more.

 **"Hm, well... Perhaps you are looking to enter UA this coming year?"** the legend inquired.

"Y-yes! I'd love more than anything in the world to become a hero, it's been my dream since I can remember! But... Actually, it depends all on my friends... If they don't want to do that, then that's fine, I can't push my own dreams and future onto others, it wouldn't be fair." Izuku's gaze cast downwards as all the surrounding Pokémon nodded resolutely. Lucario placed a hand on his shoulder and gave the best smile the stoic Pokémon could, which slightly amazed Izuku.

"We're there for you, Izuku. Whatever you want to do, so long as it is righteous, we will all support you the best we can! And besides, becoming heroes sound like the best possible occupation for all of _us_ , does it not?" Everyone laughed a little at the truth in that statement. A fire-breathing lizard, a colossal tortoise, an electrified mouse, a steel-boned martial-artist canine, a water-filled sea-otter, and finally the perfect mascot image." (he was regarding Eevee there since she almost always seemed to be the popular one for her cuteness).

Izuku rubbed at his eyes, before beaming a heartfelt smile that tugged on all the Pokémons' hearts. "T-thank you so much guys! You don't know how much this means to me."

Once he looked up, he found that All Might had disappeared somehow, but in his wake, a small note was left on the ground where he had previously stood. 

**Sorry young man for the disappearance, however as a Hero there are always scenes I'm needed at. I have no doubt that your friends will support your journey, however, so all I can say is that I believe you are plenty capable of achieving greatness at UA. I'm sure, despite its profound acceptance rate, you would fit perfectly there, and I have no doubt you could make it if you tried. The world needs more capable heroes like you were today.**

**Good luck, young man, and perhaps I'll see you around again someday soon!**

**-AM**

Fanboying over the personal letter from All Might written to him, Izuku gently folded the paper and placed it in his backpack between books so that it wouldn't get crumpled. That letter was _definitely_ going up on his shelf, since how often does someone get told something so motivating from the most important, renowned person in the _World?!_

"Alright guys, I guess we should probably get going now... I'm going to recall you until we get home so it doesn't cause a fuss futon the streets, alright?" Izuku asked politely as all the Pokémon smiled and nodded in acceptance. "Great, thanks guys!"

Just as Izuku went to click the button on his Pokétch on his wrist, he glanced down as he realised he probably should have been more careful where he pressed, as he found he had accidentally clicked a different button when gripping the top of the device by the sides.

Suddenly in a burst of speed Izuku found himself flying at Buizel with terrifying speed, until a blinding flash exploded between them as they collided.

Pulling himself up and slightly off the ground, the boy tried to recall what had just occurred and why he felt so weird. "W-what happened? Buizel, are you alright?" he looked around, but saw nothing but paralysing shock displayed on all of the other Pokémon's faces. "Guys? What, is it? W-why are you looking at me like that...?" he asked nervously.

It was Lucario who spoke up first. "Midoriya... Is that... _you?"_ he held a wary expression, which worried the boy.

"Yes it's me! Who else would it be?! -Wait a minute, I'm not Izuku? -Who are you? -Huh? -I said who are you? -I'm Bui! -W-wha but how? This is suppo-" Izuku cut himself off as soon as an arm raised in front of their face.

It was orange, leathery and coated in a thin sheen of glistening water, and sticking out the side was a rounded blue fin. It ended in a three-fingered paw, and suddenly, everything made sense in the most nonsensical way imaginable to the boy.

"WAIT AM I INSIDE YOUR BODY?! -Uhh... _Apparently?_ -W-WHY?! -How am I supposed to know?! You're the one who flew at me like a Quick Attack!"

 _"This, is what happens when you touch random buttons you don't understand!"_ Pikachu retorted, before reaching out and jolting the panicking water-type (which left a smokey trail and silenced, wide-eyed Buizel in the aftermath). "Will you both calm down? That isn't helping. Pikachu rolled his eyes. "Now... if you're done having a-"

_"Your Auras have combined."_ That single sentence shut everyone up, as they all turned to face Lucario, who had returned his passive gaze, seemingly no longer worried of him which calmed Izuku a little bit. "When it happened, I was so shocked at how Buizel's power almost doubled, however now I understand. Izuku, you seem to have merged with Buizel in just about every form except physical, to which you are currently both within _his_ body, not a shared hybrid. Your Auras, minds, and quite possibly, strength, seem to have mixed into what could possibly even be used as some powerful trump card in battle if what I suspect is correct..."

"Izuku, let Buizel control this since he has the experience of using these moves, you do not. Now Buizel, fire a Water Pulse at that wall over there." he pointed towards a solid concrete foundation wall that was below the underpass (near where the sludge monster had appeared from).

Buizel complied, and suddenly Izuku found himself feeling their shared body move, without actually causing the motion -which may have been the strangest feeling he'd ever experienced now that he thought about it. A small, blue sphere of condensed water then began forming between Buizel's lowered arms as he powered up the attack, except something was wrong. It seemed only moments from losing control already, massive in size even for such a small amount of effort put into it, and the shape could not hold itself together without wavering, shrinking and expanding, and eventually the entire sphere popped in a showering explosion, drenching everyone in the vicinity except Charmeleon, who sheltered his flaming tail behind Grotle's back.

"Hmm... It seems that either Izuku's inexpertise, or just the plain power involved, was too much for Buizel to handle comfortably without creating inbalances... Hold on, Buizel, use Quick Attack for me please?"

Buizel nodded (again feeling weird for Izuku) as he leant down into a prime position to launch forward. When he was ready, Izuku suddenly felt their combined body almost warp as they exploded forward, light breaking around them and jarring his senses.

They both hit the wall ten feet ahead with a *THUMP*, stumbling a few feet and rubbing their head until they fell to the ground dizzily.

"Owwwwww..." Buizel groaned, but Izuku was still too busy trying not to puke.

"Can you tell what happened so we can better understand what's going on?" the usually quiet Grotle asked.

"Well I know I was in the exact same position for that as always, but during it I suddenly felt uncontrollably nauseous and dizzy, just like the first time I ever used Quick Attack..."

"I think Lucario may be right... It seems Izuku needs more experience if this is ever going to work, since sharing a body appears to be both a great power, and a great drawback. If we're unlucky, it may even take thousands of attempts for Izuku to perfect some attacks that we use like second nature, since we can't forget that he's not even _meant_ to be a Pokémon. Humans don't 'use' moves like we all do."

"Hold on," Pikachu grunted as he walked beside them, before pulling up the arm that everyone only just noticed still had the Pokétch attached to. Clicking the button without any warning, the same flash as earlier erupted, before both Izuku and Buizel found themselves sitting on the floor beside each other in surprise.

"God it feels so weird to have my body back again." was the first thing Izuku managed to mumble, before suddenly he felt a very specific pull again.

Looking down at his arm, he realised Pikachu had pressed the same button once again, and all he was able to do was utter 'Awww _crap-"_ as suddenly he shot sideways and both parties fused.

Registering the new senses, Izuku blanched at seeing everything towering above a foot-tall Pokémon (only under two feet tall if Pikachu walks on two legs). "Oh god that is terrifying -no offence Volt." he winced as the words escaped him.

'Yeah, not so cool, is it?' Wait a minute, that sounded different to when he and Buizel were talking aloud.

"Wait did you just talk in my head?!"

'It's _our_ head, Spark, and yes? If we're sharing minds, then surely logically we can share thoughts.'

"I mean, if that's so then...." 'Hold on, can you hear me?'

'Yes. Let's tell the others about this, even though they probably caught half of it from you speaking anyway.'

"Uhhh... Okay, so Izuku talking here, but apparently we can hear each others thoughts inside our head if we 'say' them without actually speaking. Not quite sure how that works, buuuut..." seeing the small electric rodent shrug its shoulders like a human was admittedly quite hilarious, however all Lucario could do was facepalm.

'Hey, Spark, let me try something...'

'Oh, uh, all right...'

The Pikachu took control and their body leant forward and angled down, tail up as suddenly, a hair-raising charge began to coalesce around their tensed body. Sparks began to simmer along their fur, occasionally reaching outwards, however Pikachu (clearly straining if his laboured breath was any indication) managed to reign in any bolts that flew too close to the others. Soon, all the air surrounding them smelt of burnt ozone, the pouches on their cheeks tingling with so much energy that it was beginning to go numb.

Pikachu smiled, before abruptly releasing all of it directly ahead of them. A yellow swirling ball of condensed electricity exploded against the concrete, and an electromagnetic pulse exploded, causing all nearby lamp posts and electronic devices to momentarily fritz. Entire buildings nearby even lost power in one fell swoop, and in the distance, some car alarms could be heard.

"Hoooooly shit. Hah... That... hah... was... hah... incredible! I've never felt so powerful in my life!! If I could still feel my cheeks then I'd do that again!" Pikachu danced around with glee until suddenly Buizel snapped his hand out and caught their arm, before clicking 'the button' and unfusing them, leaving the two to fall to the floor, Izuku feeling once again strange returning to his normal height and naturally bipedal structure.

Looking up, Izuku winced as Pikachu cringed beside him as they both took note of the blank, emotionless stare Buizel was giving them, his slick, orange fur coat was now marred with some patches black and some still sticking up from the magnetism remaining in the air.

"Oops... I _may_ have forgotten that Water-Types are naturally very conductive to electricity... hehe..." Pikachu shrunk down further as Buizel's blank eyes snapped on him, before he suddenly found himself picked up by the tail and swung around like a pendulum, making him rapidly nauseous and unstable when he was dropped to the ground again.

Luckily, it seemed Buizel knew it was Pikachu's idea, not Izuku's, which is why he didn't get the same reprimand thankfully, and Pikachu was left to stumble around dizzily as payback.

"But how did you control that?" it was Charmeleon, this time, who spoke his confusion. "I thought Izuku messed up Buizel's control heavily? Did you somehow manage to compensate or something?"

The mouse shook his head, dispelling the rest of his queasiness. "Common logic, flame-tail. In case you all forgot, my first, non-evolved form is Pichu, not Pikachu. And you should all know that Pichu are notoriously _awful_ at controlling their electricity until they evolve. It harms them when they use it since they don't have the same biological regulation systems, such as these electricity storage sacks," he patted his red cheeks, "All of the electricity they generate ends up coming in excess and near-impossible to tame, and so they have to spend incredible amounts of effort learning to control their power manually. It's only when they can somewhat do this, that they evolve into Pikachu."

"So... what you're saying is you've had more practise in containing excess, uncontrolled power, which is why you compensate for Izuku and could pull the attack off?" Eevee asked in her childish, curious voice, surprising everyone with her rare interest in this.

"That's the idea. Of course, I wasn't certain, but it was my theory." Pikachu stated proudly. "If I were to use a different type of move that wasn't electricity based, though, I don't doubt it'd end up the same way as Buizel's attempts went."

"That's.... very smart of you, Volt. Good thinking." Riu stated, before turning considerately towards Izuku. "Would you mind giving this one more try? I believe I have a hypothesis of my own regarding my natural Fighting-Type physical enhancements, as well as how I continuously perfect my Aura control. If I'm correct, I believe I may also be able to mostly contain some special moves myself such as Aura Sphere, however more importantly, I may actually be able to compensate with the physical attacks like Quick Attack..."

"Well... I guess there's no harm in giving this another go...?"


	5. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names and Current Evolutions of Izuku's Pokémon:
> 
> Lucario - Riu  
> Pikachu - Volt  
> Buizel - Bui  
> Grotle - Tor  
> Charmeleon - Zephyr  
> Eevee - Ahri

"Why are we doing this again?" the meek yet impatient voice sounded once again, irritating the meditating Lucario as his serene tranquility was smudged.

"Because in order for us all to work at our best when linked, we need to train _you_ , to become _more_ like a Pokémon, and _less_ like a human. And besides, it's only been three hours since we started. You can't tell me that's all the patience and focus you can currently manage." Lucario ended up sounding like a reprimanding adult.

"Hey, Lucario, cut the kid some slack. Three hours of nothing but an empty mind is pretty impressive for someone who has never meditated in their life before." Pikachu bit into an apple as he walked past, whispering into Izuku's ear, "Don't worry about it, Spark, I'm a distractible, energetic electric type who can only manage a few days or so before I go insane within those Pokéballs, so you can do way better than me for sure. You just have to improve gradually."

See, that was another new thing that Izuku had discovered (-and evidently made him feel sublimely guilty for). Apparently while inside their Pokéballs, there was nothing but blank, white, empty space. Time continued for them within while the game was active, however they didn't physically age, so all the Pokémon could do was try to meditate and expel all distractions in order to retain sanity through their boredom.

Izuku was simply glad that he never had any poor souls trapped within his PC box, since that would have just been suffering torment for them for sure.

After hearing this, Izuku could only promise that he'd try never again to keep his friends locked away for too long within them, since he couldn't imagine lasting any longer than several hours like currently without actually losing his mind.

He wanted to ask 'How do they do it?' but of course it was a rhetorical question, since none of The Pokémon could give any other answer than 'Practice patience'.

After a few more minutes of restless straining to rid himself of thoughts, Riu eventually sighed a deep, heavy sigh, before standing up. "Alright, you did well. Perhaps I'm expecting an unfair amount from you, especially since we just started, but at least now you understand what it's like to be one of us in a sense. Although even then, we can't communicate with each other from within the Pokéballs, and there's no 'I'm bored, let's quit' either. So you have a long way to go in this regard."

Lucario noticed the boy's crestfallen expression and continued.

"I reiterate, you really _did_ do well for your first time, Izu. Let's just move onto something else so you can get rid of all of that undoubtedly built-up energy within you."

Midoriya went to say something, but held back for a moment which the Pokémon noticed. "Hey, Riu...? I don't want to sound impertinent... but I still don't understand what the actual _point_ in meditating is? Is it just to... clear your mind of stress? Or is it just helpful in passing time and learning patience?" he sounded nervous, almost as though he were expecting Lucario to be annoyed at his admittedly simple, but understandable question.

"... Pokémon are naturally closer to instinct and nature, not quite as intelligent as human society however we do have our laws and such... but back to the point, we wouldn't be able to fight half as well as we did if we didn't sharpen ourselves as best we could. It's obviously all of those reasons you stated, however most importantly it teaches you _control_. If you can control your erratic thoughts and dispel them, if you can focus in times of stress, fear or disbelief, then you are truly a terrifying foe. One who can remain in control of all actions and never be _led_ by emotions such as anger or terror, yet can utilise them as fuel for power, is the most fearsome creature to exist in my opinion. Furthermore, meditating is the path to sharpening instinctual reflexes. Those who train rely on muscle memory and reflexes to combat different scenarios they have experienced. Whilst gaining experience is one definitive path to improvement, bettering those instinctual, natural tools at your disposal is another that is commonly overlooked by many. Whether you believe me or not, I assure you that a being with both experience _and_ sharpened senses, will more often trump a being with only experience. They are quicker to react, smarter in their decisions, and maintain the best possible attitude during their fights. I must remind you, Izuku, that fights are far more about mentality, than physicality, as the moment the opponent gets in your head, it's game over. Do you understand now?"

"Yes, _sensei Riu._ " Izuku bowed, trying to stifle his snort as The Pokémon reeled and scowled, before slapping the back of his head.

"I'm not _that_ old!"

The sound of Pikachu's laughter from a little ways away only served to bring an irritated flush to the fur on his face as The Pokémon picked Izuku up by the back of his collar (like a mother canine would pick their cub up by the scruff of their neck in the wild) and proceeded to dangle the boy off the ground as they walked off towards rest of the group who were surrounding a picnic table.

It had taken a.... lot of effort, for Izuku to talk to his mum about the emergence of these 'Digital game creatures who have complete sentience'. The woman's first thought was 'Are you sure they aren't killer AI plotting to rule the world and eradicate human kind?', but after spending a lot of time reassuring her, as well as slowly introducing her to them, things became smoother. Then again, neither of them are sure _how_ they came to exist, so far Izuku hadn't given it much thought due to how distracted he'd been. But thinking about it now...

"WAIT A MINUTE- _ARE YOU GUYS MY **QUIRK**?!" _The group all turned their started attention towards him, before Zephyr turned to face him and asked the apparent question that was on everybody's mind.

 _"Um..._ What's a _'_ _quirk'...?"_ and suddenly Izuku was very confused.

"Wait, you guys don't know what a quirk is?" his eyebrows hunched together in bafflement.

"Nope. Never heard of that. Already sounds like something I'm not gonna like to know either." Pikachu deadpanned sarcastically causing Izuku to pout.

"So... you guys thought I wanted to be a hero... for no real reason?"

"Well... yeah? Isn't that just what a dream is? Only difference is that we all know that that's probably the most fitting profession with our existence, so that's why we agreed to help you with it entirely -and of course because we all genuinely support you. Why? You make it sound like we have _all_ missed something so vital it may be crippling?"

"Umm.... uh... Well, you see... A uh, quirk, it's actually just a superpower that human beings have developed through the enigmatic course of evolution..?"

All six Pokémon were rigidly still as they stared at him, blinking blankly, until Grotle spoke up, once again surprising everybody. _"What?"_

"A-are you asking that about what a superpower is, or just that you're very uhh... taken aback by this? Because I guess it makes sense now realising that quirks don't exist in Pokémon... However practically eighty percent of the world's current population has developed powers such as fire breathing, telekinesis and way more unique ones... Like that sludge villain yesterday. He was human, not an actual Grimer. _You guys knew that, right...?"_ his voice fell meek as the group collectively glanced at each other, which Izuku blanched at as whispers emerged which he couldn't quite make out from the circle.

"So he's saying humans have powers in this world?"

"And here I thought it was just going to be a case of saving innocents from muggers or something!"

"This makes it _so_ much cooler!"

"Wait but then that must mean we aren't at half as much of an advantage if humans have their own powers, right?"

"Actually yeah that sounds terrifying on second thought, imagine trying to take on a gang of humans with not only their technology _and_ intelligence, but super powers too?!"

"We'd be at a huge disadvantage in that case, we aren't dumb but we aren't good strategists when relying on instinct, that's where Pokémon trainers come in. Pokémon aren't too far off of human intelligence in our own way, but we aren't nearly as good at preplanning during fights, that's why we grow bonds with trainers. They provide the brains, we provide the brawn and it's a fair balance."

"But this just seems unfair now!"

"You all are forgetting something. Or _someone._ We're all apparently very quick to point out the negatives in all of this, however has everyone forgotten that _we_ have Izuku?"

Everyone seemed to hush when Lucario started speaking, which made Izuku even more curious, however by this point he knew this wasn't his conversation to intrude. They all suddenly glanced his way, bringing a nervous blush to his face as he tried to (shakily) grin and wave.

"Remember from back in the game? Izuku was near undefeated through all the gym badges he collected, even with the ones he won when he was four! He's got to be one of the best strategists out there, since he memorised all the typing effectiveness and multipliers before his first ever gym badge, plus he balanced out our move pools perfectly within game to share four strong, varying-type moves, always playing to our advantages depending on our physical or special stats. Don't forget either that here in this world, we aren't limited by only four moves like we were within the game! We aren't nearly as disadvantaged as we all imagine we are."

"Lucario's right... We all make an incredible team, there's no denying that. We balance each other's weaknesses by covering them with strengths, and we have versatile typings that can take on almost any Pokémon and always have an effective response between us. Why should it be any different now? If a human were to have fire breathing as he said earlier, then Buizel is perfect! He can't get burned and he can perfectly counter them! If they use psychic abilities, we leave it to Eevee as an Umbreon, or if they fly or have enhanced strength, then Zeph and Tor once they fully evolve into Charizard and Torterra, as well as Lucario would be great on the frontlines! Not only that, but once Izuku gets down-pat on this linking, we'll be the strongest team in the world for sure!'

"So this changes nothing? We're still all in for helping Izuku achieve his dream, right?"

"I'm in! I'm in!" Buizel jumped up truculently which made everyone smile.

"Hell yeah, this is firing me up even more actually! I can't wait to get some good fights in now!" Charmeleon clenched a claw and smirked.

"Yeppers peppers! Sounds like super-duper fun!" Eevee grinned and nodded.

"Sounds like fun, _and_ we'll definitely be able to grow way stronger this way, so of course I'm in!" Pikachu noticed a red clawed fist in his peripheral vision, and looking up he noticed Zephyr was offering a fist bump, which Volt returned and paired with his own smirk, feeling glad about the mutual respect between everyone.

"I never changed my decision, I promised Izuku he wasn't useless like he's so unfairly often made out to be, so no matter what, I'll be there for him. I feel certain we all will be. We're all strong on our own turf, remove any one of us, and we'd have flaws and weaknesses within our group, but together we'll " Lucario had his eyes closed and arms crossed, but the other Pokémon all looked at him respectfully, as they all knew at first they had doubted themselves.

As the final confirmation, Tor nodded and sent a rare smile, causing every mon (Pokémon like 'mankind' comes from hu _man_ ') to cheer.

"I think we should all apologise to Izuku though... We all doubted him and ourselves, plus he's probably really worried right now..." Bui bit his cheek as everyone agreed.

"That's a good idea Bui. C'mon guys, group hug sounds fitting."

Looking up, Izuku noticed the six Pokémon all approaching him and for a while, he feared for the worst. That they had maybe changed their minds and didn't feel capable enough anymore which he disagreed vehemently but still could understand their reasoning. He never considered that they all thought it would be an easy road due to being super strong Pokémon unchallenged in a normal human world, but the last two hundred years had changed a lot within society...

They didn't stop in front of him, however, but continued to encircle him, before he got squeezed from all sides.

"We're sorry. For a moment we all doubted ourselves and our capabilities, but then we remembered we have you, as well as each other. We're already kinda like family, aren't we guys? If you really think about it, we've all known each other for almost a decade, even if Izuku has only just met us. I think it's fair to say we're a team."

"Yeah, and besides, more difficult or not, this sounds way more fun to battle strong opponents! If anything, all of us are just more hyped up now!"

"You can be a hero, and we'll be there with you every step of the way!"

"Yeah!

"Definitely!"

"Yep!"

Izuku couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of course he had hoped for the best, but this just seemed to trump that and then some. He had to try hard not to let any tears loose, but anyone who looked could see them clearly brimming. "T-thank you so much, guys. I promise to always be there for all of you as well, no-matter what! Alright?"

That day ended with all seven beings feeling positively grateful for having such a reliable, incredible team, always prepared to take every step forward alongside each other.


	6. The Exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spend way too much time on ALL of my stories describing the ten months before the Entrance Exam, and so this time I've decided screw that, since it just makes me deliberate and get bored quickly. So this time I'm trying to have less filler chapters in this story, and a lot more fun action and content! :)
> 
> Names and Current Evolutions of Izuku's Pokémon:
> 
> Lucario - Riu  
> Pikachu - Volt  
> Buizel - Bui  
> Grotle - Tor  
> Charmeleon - Zephyr  
> Eevee/Eeveelutions - Ahri

The train ride to UA had been.... stressful for Izuku Midoriya. He had had to retract his Pokémon back into their Pokéballs in his Pokétch (lots of 'Poké's', I know) so he had spent the whole train ride crammed between people and in silence, which only made the thrumming of his heart echo louder.

Taking his first step that crossed from cracked pavement to pristine, white concrete of UA's impenetrable gates was just as nerve-racking. He wanted so very much to bring out his friends so that they could join him in their first step past that boundary, however he knew that displaying his trump cards in front of _every other competitor_ would be a stupid idea -Lucario had actually advised him not to especially for that reason, so at least he didn't feel excessively guilty about it...

At the very least, he knew that should they all _actually_ pass, they could all take their first true steps as student(s?) of the hero course together on the first day of school, and that counted as much -if not more.

During the briefing of the thousands of contestants by the famous Hero/Podcaster Present Mic, Izuku remained silent and tried to reign in his focus by breathing calmly as Lucario had taught him, ignoring Bakugou's scowls-of-death and all the crowd's voices surrounding him. In this moment, all that mattered was him, his friends, and this exam.

Time flew by after that, and without fully processing that they had all loaded and left busses that delivered them to the testing sites, Izuku found himself staring up at the large steel gates of the _literal_ perfect scale model city that spanned miles ahead. During the briefing, he made sure he understood what was going on, so he knew how the test worked.

Everyone other than Izuku had collected before the large gates, all preparing for when they opened, so Izuku took this perfect opportunity to run down the game plan to his friends.

Popping all six of his Pokémon out from their balls, he gestured for them to remain silent behind the crowd. He then proceeded to whisper details to prepare them.

_"We need to collect as many points as possible within the cities by defeating fake villain robots. Different robots result in different amounts of points gained, ranging from one to three depending on difficulty and size, and simply avoid the 'Magikarp' that are worth zero points. And don't forget guys, we're here to be heroes above all else, so between saving someone or gaining points, you know what to do. I think the best plan of attack would be for Volt and I to stay together to take them on by frying them. Zephyr, Bui and Riu, you guys all spread out and cover different areas, you all have high power and can easily take out robots, but Bui if you can focus on stopping fires and terrain destruction as priority. Also, don't forget to check inside some buildings, since it wouldn't be stretch to assume that a lot of points will come from 'underground' types of villains, not just those who lurk in alleyways."_ The three Pokémon mentioned all nodded, smirks adorning their faces as Volt leapt up to sit on Izuku's shoulder, cheeks already sparking in anticipation.

 _"Ahri, you and Tor I'm going to keep as reserves if that's alright with you both? This entire test is going to be all about speed and power, so it would be better to keep you two hidden away as tank and support respectively than to reveal you unnecessarily when this isn't your kind of fight. It could also always do well to keep some hidden cards close to play another time. Is that alright with everyone then?"_ The group gave a collective, heavy nod. _"Oh, and one last thing, don't forget to count your points so we can work out the total at the end!"_

He got positive confirmation from six nods as he smiled, before recalling the two of the six Pokémon to their balls and leaving the rest to stay as planned. It was at that moment that a boy with blue hair and rectangular glasses approached them.

"Excuse me, fellow candidate, but I feel I must ask what you are doing? Having those creatures surely isn't permitted unless I am missing something, to which if that is the case I apologise-"

"They're just a part of my quirk, but it's responsible of you for checking so no worries." Izuku gave the classy-looking boy a smile, which was returned. "Good luck in the exam!"

"And the same to you." with that, the tall boy left politely after a bow.

Suddenly, a voice louder than jet engines themselves reverberated throughout the crowd, **_"GO!!!"_ **it took a few seconds for _anyone_ to register what was being said, to which the Hero Present Mic continued with **"There's no time to prepare in times of crisis or disaster! Go go GO!"**

Suddenly, the entirety of the participants shot off and through the gate, Izuku only being brought out of his reverie when Lucario sped off ahead of him, reminding him that he needed to be quicker to react and get moving.

Charging forward, the five of them all split up as planned previously, leaving only Izuku and Volt, who was still sitting atop the boy's shoulder. "Well Volt, let's get in there and show 'em what we got!"

"Hell yeah Spark!" and with that, they joined the fray of mangled robotic corpses and superpowered battles.

After five minutes or so, Izuku was feeling as faithful in his team as ever. Together with Volt, he had accumulated forty-five points, and he had _no_ doubt that the others had collected as much- if not more due to their ability. No matter what, Izuku just couldn't help but awe at and respect the true combat ability each of his Pokémon held. In many ways, he felt like he was holding Volt back himself as well, however the Pikachu didn't seem to share the thought as he could clearly see the thoughts running through Izuku's head and told him to 'stop forgetting your own worth'.

Just as they were about to continue on their way, a tremor unlike any other he'd experienced within Japan occurred. The concrete, sturdy building to their right within the alleyway shook as though it were made out of cardboard, before crumbling to the ground like it was blown by a strong wind. Without more than a second to react to being almost crushed, Izuku's eyes widened in terror, before he slammed his finger down on his Pokétch, releasing Tor from his ball. He had the highest defence and health stats of his entire team, if anyone could survive this, it was Tor.

It was barely a second later that Izuku curled over Pikachu on the ground as Tor himself (making sense of the situation with incredible speed) practically _leapt_ over Izuku to stand firm and strong, ready to protect them from the literal building collapsing on them, only tucking in his head. Just as the rubble connected, something within the Grotle ignited, and they were all abruptly flooded with blindingly white light, before everything went dark.

After a few, long moments, the dust eventually settled, and out from the rubble emerged a spiked tortoise-like head, followed by large, steel-hard shell that connected to several jagged stones and a _tree_ of all things, as well as a clubbed tail. Following the strange creature, as the petrified teachers watching the accidental disaster watched gobsmacked, was a small boy still tucked up within the creature's claws, as well as the small, yellow, electric creature that was hidden entirely away within the green-haired boys tight, protective grip.

"What the **hell was that, Nedzu?! With all due respect, sir, you almost just _KILLED THAT BOY!_ Had he not miraculously had those creatures with him, he would be undoubtedly dead!" **Toshinori Yagi yelled as his thin, weak frame buffed and filled before the other practical exam judges (all UA teachers) who were sworn to silence regarding his secret. The frail, injured man-turned-All Might faced the principle in anger, scowl adorning the face that should 'always be smiling'.

The principle, (rat/bear/mouse -who knows?) released a shaky breath he didn't realise he had even taken, but refused to turn to face his trusted acquaintances. He didn't have the nerve. Never in his life had Nedzu overlooked something so colossal, to the point that in almost any other altercation of this situation, he would have _killed a child aiming to become a hero._

"..." He couldn't find it in himself to speak, and the others within the room seemed to notice this as their infuriated glazes turned into shock (which they tried to conceal as best they could) at seeing the principle ever display anything other than ingenious authority and confidence.

"The boy is alive. That is all that matters right now." a usually tired voice sounded, echoing throughout the room from the far corner. "Crisis was averted and this can be dealt with further in five minutes at the end of this exam, however right now, you all might want to look back at that screen..." and with that, all of the ten or so teachers turned back to face the monitors. If Aizawa ever said something, they had all come to listen to it as there wasn't a man more serious nor dedicated towards his job -both as teacher and hero, despite what some may say about him.

Cracking his dust-caked eyes open, Izuku was met with the blinding sun, before it was gratefully blocked by a large silhouette. Gently releasing Volt from his grip, the Pikachu immediately jumped up and glanced around, monitoring the situation as he allowed the boy to recover from his shock. He noticed Tor immediately and his eyes widened at the sight, but now wasn't the time for that.

"Thanks, Tor. Both Izuku and I owe you a big one..."

The other simply smiled and shook his head, grumbling an _almost_ silent _"No you don't."_

They both then continued to watch around as Izuku slowly pulled himself together with momentary emergency meditation. His mind felt haywire and his nerve endings burned in anticipation to react to any threats, and whilst that was good in some ways, it meant his entire body was quivering on adrenaline, which was bad since soon if he didn't calm down, he'd wear out to heavy exhaustion.

Taking Lucario's teachings into practice, he steadied his breath and kept his eyes closed for just a little longer. Thankfully, both Pokémon beside him seemed to fully understand that he needed this -they had a lot more experience with tense situations than Izuku did, and the fact that he was managing to calm himself down at all was an incredible feat.

Finally, releasing a shaky breath, his eyes snapped open. "A-alright. I-I'm fine now. Still a little jittery, but there could be someone out there that needs our help if that tremor ran throughout the rest of the city too-" the boy hadn't even managed to finish that sentence as suddenly, a ~~large~~ **colossal** robot, the size of skyscrapers themselves, tore its tank-treads through the ground as it appeared from down the street. It didn't even have to swing for its arms to shatter buildings, and suddenly, its luminescent, large head turned to face the only targets it could find on the street. There was no-one else around, which insinuated that everyone else had fled at the sight of it, but that just worried Izuku more since it meant that there could easily be many more casualties that needed help like he did and no-one was out here to save them.

Kicking his brain into gear, his mind began analysing at breakneck speed, working beyond any sense of doubt or confusion and simply taking in facts and producing results.

'Zero-pointer, Torterra, evolution, stronger, new moves, Pikachu, electricity, can fry components but not to this scale without powering up, no reinforcements, could be other casualties, open area behind it from where it was before, best option:'

Izuku took hold of his watch and practically _smashed_ the 'Link' button, having set it to Tor. The two of them merged in the usual flash of light that he and his team had grown accustomed to within the past ten months of training, and like a new instinct, Izuku could sense the new moves Tor had learnt from his evolution.

The pair of them, with their minds synced, rose to their hind legs, before _smashing_ their front legs into the ground with such vigorous that the road cracked and shattered, travelling towards the robot. It was too slow to move away, and before it could react, it found itself tilting over, before eventually collapsing backwards and away from any more unbroken buildings. **"Volt, one million volts straight to its head!"**

The Pikachu complied, dashing forwards the one hundred metres or more (and all the while overcharging his cheek-pouches as much as he physically could), before leaping onto the side of a building and jumping _further_ into the air, before releasing a devastating lightning bolt directly at the robot. At first, it seemed fine, however after a few seconds, it suddenly erupted in a chain of pops and explosions as different components within its circuits began to overcharge and blow.

As the final display, its head exploded like a crate of dynamite due to the amount of parts within it.

Just as Pikachu was falling from the sky at an alarming rate, Lucario burst from an alleyway and caught the smaller Pokémon in his arms, before landing in a crouch. He was then joined by Charmeleon and Buizel from the opposite direction, and together, all three of them approached Izuku, who had now split from Torterra and fallen to his rear during the final display of fireworks, eyes semi-glazed and clearly trying to catch up on processing information more intricately.

Lucario knew someone had to take control, and right now the only way to do that was... "Izuku, I'm going to link us both right now... Just trust me." The moment their minds merged, Lucario felt almost overwhelmed by the swirling thoughts within Izuku's head, however he then activated his aura and tugged on the sense of clarity within the boy's head, as well as damped the confusion he was drowning in.

Izuku abruptly felt his mind clear as he registered Lucario's sense of control and calm balanced him out, which he was thankful for. He still wasn't in the best state of mind right now, but he knew they could manage and he'd just leave control to Lucario on this one. They only fused because he knew he couldn't be left there alone in the middle of the street if there was still danger, and Lucario could really use the strength boost of fusing anyway.

"Right guys, we need to keep going! This isn't over yet, there could be some serious injuries caused by that thing, so we need to split up and search through this rubble, Bui and Zeph, you both go west, Tor go east, Volt go with him. I'm going to go North, since there wasn't any damage caused behind us. Alright?"

Everyone immediately got to it, 

What they didn't realise, was that there were no other casualties out there as the teachers of UA had already dispatched medical rescue teams to get to it. No-one had really registered the sound of the timer indicating the exam had ended. In the end, there were one or two injuries in total from the destruction that the robot caused, however luckily its entry was timed purposefully so that there wasn't any participants directly near it when it emerged. _The only real exception was Midoriya._

Which is what lead to the current situation... After getting reigned in by several clones of Ectoplasm (a UA teacher who can split into clones of himself), the five Pokémon and boy (Ahri had remained hidden and secret so far so they didn't see much benefit of revealing her now) found themselves sitting before the principle of UA himself, along with just about the entire school board (and of course a paramedical team to check them for injuries -who were absolutely breathless to find only a few scratches and bruises on Tor, let alone nothing on anyone else despite all their fighting and action).

"Young Izuku Midoriya, I have... much to apologise to you for." the small animal began, surprising Izuku. "It was my own idea, to have the zero-pointer robot within each city to act as a surprise and an example to all examinees that many simple situations within the heroics world can escalate to calamities in seconds... But my failure in foresight resulted in you getting caught in heavy crossfire, of which I cannot regret enough... In many ways, it is a miracle that of all contestants, you were caught victim, as I doubt most others would have survived that...

I ask you for forgiveness, and any way to make up for it. You were undoubtedly one of the most spectacular contestants we've ever experienced here at UA, unlike any other and only comparable to All Might's own entrance exam himself. You displayed power, yet control and sensibility. You portrayed a true heroic spirit by focussing on the safety of many over the defeat of few," Izuku wanted to blanch at them somehow knowing they had agreed to focus on saving people, but then again this was the most prestigious school in the world so they probably had cameras and microphones everywhere.

"I may have miscalculated here or there... however as an acceptation to the our one-week rule of revealing results, I'd like to tell you that you earned a total of two-hundred and forty-two points between yourself and your companions, of which yes I did glance over your application form just now and realise that these creatures are considered as sentient forms of your quirk in a broad sense, correct?"

Realising that that was an actual question to check and not just rhetorical, Izuku stuttered "Y-yes sir. They are fully sentient and come from a previously existing game that my quirk somehow manifested into real-life."

"Truly fascinating... I've never seen anything like it..." he trailed off in curiosity.

"I- I um... only really discovered my quirk ten months ago. There was one case when I was much younger, but other than that I believed I was always quirkless because that's what the doctor told me when I was four... _Oh my god I'm rambling! I-I'm so sorry, you didn't ask for any of that! S-"_

"Please calm down, Young Midoriya-san. It is quite alright. I am actually quite relieved to see you are seemingly mentally sound after all the occurrences you've dealt with today, and showing a little enthusiasm in what makes you _you_ is nothing I can fault you for." the rodent gave him a smile, before turning towards the creatures. "If I'm correct, you can understand them, can you not?"

"Y-yes sir. Somehow, a translator within the game transferred over to this device when my quirk fully manifested, and has subsequently... kinda... actually I don't know how to explain this so it sounds a little weird, but... _fused_ into me? So now I just... understand them like I would when talking to anyone else. I'm sorry I can't explain it any better than that, but I really don't know any more than that, even though I want to..."

"Well not knowing something you don't know is not a fault of yours either! It's only 'not knowing' something you prematurely forget, that can be faulted and truly cause disaster, especially as a hero so don't forget that." the principle was a teacher through and through, so all he could do was smile encouragingly.

"I'd very much like to offer you a scholarship slot, young man. No- scratch that, I'd like to offer your _team_ a... contemporary scholarship, as you will." he turned towards The Pokémon, who were all giving him confused glances. "For you all to operate as individuals, it would be complicated due to being both sentient, yet also a part of Midoriya-san's quirk... This could cause confusion and be problematic for your careers... Now I wish to offer Midoriya-san a recommended spot among our next intake of students, as despite unquestionably acing the exam, I'm sure the attention would serve _very_ useful to your career, and it's undoubtable that you deserve it."

"So I am proposing, to offer you _each_ , a technical Hero-licence in conjunction with Midoriya-san's. It would have to be arranged with the Ministry of Heroes, however I'm certain it won't be a problem for me to get arranged as an exception for your outstanding team and my influence."

"I-I don't fully understand sir... Are you saying that we'll all be separate heroes...? With all due respect, if that's the case, then no I don't think we could split like that..." the boy meekly said, glancing behind the principle to see the many teachers, all of which were staring at him in mixes of awe and respect which made him blush. Of all people, Izuku never expected to be viewed on equal footing as the top heroes themselves despite only being fifteen and having little true experience.

The principle grinned. "Of course not, you are a team and I fully understand that. But for example, in the case of a crisis that includes not only villains, but victims as well, much like today, I am willing to state your friends as individuals of their own, despite being a part of your team and quirk. This certifies them to make their own decisions and actions, which could prove vital in times that require quick action. I have seen their abilities and have no doubt I could trust my own life to any of them as you have displayed today...

So, Midoriya-san. Five creatures and yourself take up one slot of my school, yet provide six licensed heroes to debut in the near future. What do you say?"

The boy was speechless, eyes broad and mouth agape. He only blinked when Lucario nudged him. "I-I uh, I, y-yes sir, that sounds incredible! However..." just as he said this, the principle's expression fell to worry, but was proven for naught as he continued. "I a-actually have one more member of my team that I didn't bring out today. S-she's a little... cheeky and childish sometimes, however she's just as important-a-part of my team as any and I promise that she means well for all, despite you not seeing her in action. W-would it be alright if she be included in this offer? I know its a little presumptuous of me to ask you to put trust into someone you've not met, but if not, I don't think I can accept this offer of yours. It's wonderful, yet I can't leave any of my team out no matter what." he finalised with as much integrity as he'd had all day.

"Could I... see this sixth companion of yours? You don't have to fight or demonstrate."

Izuku nodded, before bringing out Ahri. The Eevee slowly blinked her eyes open, having seemingly been resting, but noticing she had been brought out, she jumped up, alert and ready, still thinking the test was ongoing.

"Ahri, it's alright. The exam is over, the principle just wants to meet you. There was a bit of a... problem earlier, but it's all fine now."

Lucario then spoke up, and thankfully due to the language barrier, no-one except Izuku of course understood him. "Ahri, please just be on your best behaviour for a bit and we'll explain later why, but this is very important to not only all of us, but yourself as well."

The Eevee pouted, before rolling her eyes at him and then facing back towards the teachers. She sat down, her fluffy ears perked up, her eyes sparkled, and suddenly the entire board erupted in a mass of paralysed coos and _'Awww's'_.

Izuku turned to whisper to Pikachu, who was on his shoulder, "Did she really just use Baby-Doll-Eyes AND Charm at the _same time_...?!"

 _"Apparently."_ the exhaustion in the electric mouse's voice was somewhat hilarious, but Izuku tried his best not to laugh as they both watched as every teacher, but especially Midnight, began to fawn over her.

Nedzu blushed lightly, which he behind a paw, before speaking up. "Y-yes. She is perfectly acceptable as well to be included in the offer."

Izuku took a moment to look between all his friends, eyes asking for approval and agreement, checking for consent, before he eventually turned towards Nedzu. "Sir, we would be honoured! Thank you so much for this opportunity!"

"No, young man, thank _you._ I have no doubts that you will turn out to become a truly imperative hero of the future someday, and I can only hope and trust that myself and my staff are capable of bringing out the best of you that we can.

A voice suddenly erupted from behind the group, to which Izuku blanched at, **"Welcome, young Midoriya-san, to UA, your new, confirmed hero academia! I knew I was right when I saw you all those months ago, but today has just confirmed it. My boy, I see great potential in you."** All Might placed a large hand gently on the boy's shoulder. Izuku wasn't sure when the man had arrived, as he hadn't seen him among the other staff, but-

"WAIT, All Might, are you a teacher here?!"

The idol shrunk an inch as he felt the other teachers and principle stare into his soul from behind. **"A-ah... I had promised to not say anything about that until next week when the year starts... But oh well, cat's out of the bag now!"** he laughed, trying to recover from his acknowledged slip-up.

"D-don't worry, All Might sir, I won't tell anyone if it's meant to be a secret!"

**"Thank you my boy, I don't doubt your word."**

Izuku ended up leaving that day alongside his friends. He didn't bother retracting them for the train ride, opting to simply pay for the extra tickets instead. After today, he was sure that his mother wouldn't complain too much about it, but boy did he have a long story to tell her when he got home...


	7. Just a Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First chapter that contains some fluff and filler, nothing more :)
> 
> (Oh, and one other thing, I've decided to change it so that Lucario can retract his chest/wrist spikes when he wants, it makes more sense for when he's hugging or something)

It was late at night, and both Izuku and Riu were laying on the couch together, watching a new movie. The others had joined half way through, with Bui just leaning up against the sofa from sitting on the ground, and the rest all just curling up on pillows. Inko had gone to bed earlier, since she had work the following morning, however Izuku was no longer burdened by the boring, easy workloads of junior high-school; now all he was waiting for was the start of first term at UA on Monday -another reason why he couldn't sleep and was staying up late.

At first, the pair had been sitting relatively upright, a bowl of popcorn between them, however as the movie gradually progressed, Lucario found himself being leant on more and more as the boy slowly fell droopier and silent. At first, it was hardly noticeable, however now, with the boy's arms latched around his midsection tightly and soft, light breaths tickling the fur on his ears, it was hard to ignore. Overtime, it apparently became more noticeable to all the others as well, as some were barely suppressing snorts at the Lucario's half-squinted, irritant expression, whilst the other half simply gave a grin, wink or thumbs-up, to which he silently growled at their teasing.

But alas, when he went to try to free himself in the hopes of just carrying the weary boy back to his bed to sleep more comfortably, he found himself crushed even tighter, leaving him trapped beneath the green-haired boy. The Lucario wanted to roll his eyes at the boy's antics, admittedly adorable or not, but was promptly cut off from his line of thought with a ticklish flinch when the boy nuzzled against his fur in his sleep with a large, dopey smile adorning his face.

 _"Sho sofffft..."_ he murmured, before burying his face into his neck and snuggling closer like a pillow.

_'Damnit Izuku, I'm not your teddy-bear!'_ he thought with a restrained growl and as much spite as he could muster, but was shamefully disappointed when he found not a single definitive reason as to why he should outright _dislike_ this current situation (except perhaps having onlookers, but he knew they wouldn't do anything nasty so he wasn't very worried). He was trying desperately to rid himself of the small flush that was tinting his cheeks, but only frowned at the thoughts that circled his mind.

_'It wouldn't work, that's not what I should be thinking about.'_ he thought, letting reality kick him back to his senses. _'...But it wouldn't be wrong if I just enjoy this at least once...'_ he eventually resolved, before cautiously moving his arm and encircling Izuku's shoulder, bringing them just a little closer into the hug. Lucario felt his senses slowly drifting off, eyes wide open until without realising, they weren't.

He felt like he slept better that night than ever before.

* * *

Izuku first awoke to the sound of his mother cooing, to which his eyes opened blearily, needing him to rub them before he could finally focus on his mother standing in ahead of him. She currently had her phone out and was fawning over it, faced towards _him._

He went to ask what it was, when he felt two arms snaked around his mid-section tighten, before he was pulled back down from his semi-upright position to have himself pressed firmly back into the soft cream coloured fur of a still sleeping Lucario. Thankfully, the other had retracted the large spike in his chest, otherwise that could have ended up being a painful way to wake up this morning (-impaled by several inches of metal bone through a _hug_ of all things) ((-the prospect of a _hug-of-death_ promptly sent Izuku spiralling into a silent, barely-repressed giggle fit internally)).

Izuku soon managed to calm down, looking back up towards his mother as she cooed once more, the resolute 'snap' of her camera only serving to spark an infernal flush that grew exponentially by the second.

"M-m-mom! Wh-what are y-you doing?!" he whispered harshly at the woman, who he only just now realised was surrounded by the other Pokémon, who were all trying their best to see the screen, but Inko only pushed the display in his face. It displayed a bright-red Izuku being tightly cuddled by Lucario who held the most peaceful face he'd ever seen him wear. With the way he was wrapping himself around Izuku, it made him seem like he was subconsciously trying to protect him.

Izuku struggled to hide his embarrassment further when Inko offered to share the photo with him and he merely forced his gaze to the ground, trying to hide his eyes.

 _"Moooooom...that’s not funny!” his attempted growl came out more as a weak groan of protest, before he felt his phone vibrate in his front pocket, signifying his mother really had_ shared the picture with him.

 _He wouldn't admit to secretly promising himself to set it as his phone background the moment he could,_ as for now, he needed to figure out a way to slip out of the Pokémon's hold without waking him...

His first attempt didn't quite go to plan, only leaving him squeezed even tighter than before as the sleeping Pokémon now unconsciously wrapped its leg around him like a protective shell, refusing to let him escape. If the scenario had caused any more warmth to radiate through the boy's heart, he probably would have squeaked in crippling embarrassment.

Eyes rigidly passed over towards his mom, silently begging for help, however were replaced with an infernal scowl as the woman did nothing but chuckle as she left the room.

Izuku would make sure to remember this moment for the rest of his life, just so he could make sure to enact vengeance eventually.

Each renewed attempt to escape only served to leave him more trapped, and after an endless amount of preparation, the boy finally decided it was necessary to wake the other in order to get up.

"L-Lucario. Hey, are you awake?"

He received the faintest, most unintelligible grunt, signifying the amount of energy the blue Pokémon had available to expend.

"Uh, you're kinda trapping me. Think you could let me up please?" he hardly managed to finish that sentence before he got a reaction. Suddenly, Izuku found himself launched from the settee at jarring speeds, before landing on his butt startled. Looking back, he saw for what was the first time ever, an infernal blush tinting through his fur as the Pokémon practically flew up and onto his feet before 'calmly' dashing away.

_Well... That was something...?_

All Izuku could do was blink and shake his head, before getting up and continuing with his day as best he could, trying not to overthink things as usual.


	8. A Little Birdie Said...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that for this fic, I'm going to be taking the English dubbed anime's approach by saying names as Forename followed by Surname instead of how Japan does it the other way round. Reason for this is because of how much I'm using first names for Izuku and his Pokémon so it makes more sense. :)

Walking into school on the first day had been somehow thrice as incredible as it had felt the week prior. That's because this time, Izuku knew he wasn't 'on his way to TRY and get into the school', but actually a part of the latest year's intake. He _had_ made it in and so this was the true first step, and not only that but before he'd cleared the gate, all six of his Pokémon were by his side, step for step as they crossed together.

Least to say, it felt _awesome._ But right now? Right now, he feels... weird beyond all else. He had only just taken a single step into his form room, 'Class 1-A', and now everyone's looking at him, judging him, gauging him and whispering. He had pulled his Pokémon back into their balls for now, just so that he could make sense of what the other students and general situation would be like -he wasn't actually sure if his Pokémon would be attending lessons like him or not either, Nedzu hadn't said.

Before he could process it, the boy with blue hair approached him from the entrance exam and began speaking rapidly. "I'm not surprised at all to see you got in, Midoriya-san!"

Izuku blinked. "H-how do you know my name? I know we met but I don't remember properly greeting each other?"

"Ah, my sincere apologies! My name is Tenya Iida, I come from Somei-Academy. Everyone who got in knows your name because you were listed as number one out of all the contestants, with over triple the score of who came second! I saw you multiple times throughout the exam and was amazed at your strategy and leadership, so I am very grateful to be acquainted with such talent within this prestigious school!" He abruptly shot out a stiff hand to shake, which Izuku blinked at in surprise.

"I-It's nice to meet you too, Iida-san. I hope we can be good friends for the foreseeable future." he gave a shaky but earnest smile towards the earnestly quirky boy. The door then slid open hard from behind him, and a familiar growl met his ears.

Turning around nervously, every fibre within him was begging that he was wrong, however when his emerald eyes met with crimson, every hope seemed to shatter.

 _"Deku..."_ the boy in question could hear the grinding of teeth as Kacchan said his name with venom, causing everyone else in the room to watch in silent dismay and confusion.

"H-hi Kaccha-"

"Shut. Up. Nerd." the blonde silently barged past him, cutting him off from continuing and moving to sit down in a seat in clear anger. To be honest, Izuku was amazed at the amount of control Katsuki had displayed, as normally he'd beat him up when only _half_ as angry, but he supposes that getting expelled from UA wasn't worth it and Katsuki realised this.

Turning back around awkwardly, it was only now that Izuku began registering the hushed whispers passing all around once more.

"Isn't he the one who came close to _All Might's_ entrance score from decades ago?"

"Yeah, no-one's gotten _half_ as close since! How did he do it?"

"Do you think he cheated?"

"No, I doubt it. The teachers would have monitored everything perfectly. Plus if someone got that high in the first place, I would suspect that Nedzu himself went over and double checked his score."

"That's insane!"

"I know right? I don't know if I'm more amazed or intimidated now that I know we're in a class with competition as good as him..."

Izuku decided to finally speak up, mostly because at the very least he didn't want others doubting themselves over something like a test score.

"I-I wouldn't say that at all. We all got into this school because we were deemed good enough. I don't want to be seen as fakely humble or anything by anyone, but really no-one here should doubt themselves." Izuku held out a hand for the boy with bright red, spiky hair to shake. "I-I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you! I hope we can all work together as friendly rivals on our path to become heroes!"

The other boy blinked with wide eyes before exhaling. "Woahhh, so manly! Hell yeah dude, you seem like a nice guy already so let's be friends! My name's Eijiro Kirishima, and this here's Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, Kyouka Jiro and finally Sero Hanta!" he indicated each person as he went, all of which gave waves or smiles.

"Hey Midoriya-san! You know, you're pretty famous already for your score in the entrance exam and I guess everyone was worrying what you were gonna be like... But you seem okay. As Kiri said, I'm Mina Ashido but call me whatever you prefer." She gave a smile and offered a handshake, which Izuku took.

Confused, he glanced down at his hand; it felt sticky and goopy. It had some sort of gel/slime on it and now the pink-skinned girl was laughing with her friends.

"Sorry, sorry. Just a practical joke I do when I meet new people to break the ice. It's a part of my quirk; acid, but don't worry, it's diluted and harmless like that."

"Ah, no that's fine. I'll admit that I was confused at first, but good joke I guess. It's kinda like a less mean version of the palm shocker, isn't it?" Izuku chuckled as he wiped the slime off. He wasn't at all mad at her as she did no harm and only wanted to joke and break the ice.

"Hey Midoriya-san, if you don't mind, what's your quirk? It must be super strong if your score was anything!" Denki clenched his fist as he spoke in excitement. He had blondish, yellow hair with a black lightning bolt dyed in, and if Izuku was being honest, he kind of reminded him of a human Pikachu by looks.

"W-well... My quirk is a little... complicated..."

"Awww. Secrets already!? Darn-"

"No no no, I don't mind telling you, but I guess it's just... e-easier if I show you?"

The entire room went noticeably silent as he said this, with everyone watching with rapt attention as he gulped down his shy nerves. Pressing the button, he decided to go with letting Lucario out, seeing as he was the only Pokémon on his team that could understandably communicate with other humans (only through telepathy at that).

The usual red bolt of jagged light zapped out of the device on his wrist, and from the blinding silhouette of white light emerged the Lucario. Riu held a steady face as he took in the situation, noticing that everyone within the room was staring at him in seemingly unfathomable awe.

"Lucar-io? _-What's this for?"_ the Pokémon asked Izuku, with all the girls within the class cooing at him from the adorable sounds that had exited his mouth.

Izuku came up and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, People were asking me about my quirk because of our score in the entrance exam, so I just thought it would be best to bring you out since you can speak through telepathy, plus I don't want to reveal all you guys in one go."

The Lucario nodded, internally rolling his eyes at the boy in amused exhaustion but going along with what he said.

  
"U-uhm, this here is Riu! He's a what's called a 'Lucario' from a retro-style game from over a century ago. What my quirk basically does is bring this game and device to life," he brought up his wrist with the Pokétch, "-materialising these sentient 'Pokémon' from the game. There are other species of Pokémon, which are kind of like super special kinds of animals in the game, but for now I'll leave it with just Riu since he's the only one on my team who can technically talk..."

The Lucario passed its stoic glare from Izuku to the rest of the class. _'It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you all get along well with Izuku, he's a bit of an introvert due to bullying in his old school, but won’t stop talking about wanting to make new friends.'_ his piercing red eyes met Bakugou's own as he stared pointedly asIzuku pursed his lips with a blush as Riu spoke, cursing the Pokémon silently for embarrassing him. He supposed that he unfairly put Riu on the spot in this all, but that was just evil! Before it could get any worse however, Izuku retracted the Pokémon, which in hindsight wasn't any better as now he had all eyes back on him and was left standing in the centre of the room alone.

"U-uhm.. ahem. Uhhh.... y-yeah. S-so... that was... Hehe... d-don't listen to him." he tried to smile shakily as his blush only grew worse, but thankfully he was saved from his predicament as his eyes met a strange, large, yellow caterpillar that was sliding its way into the room. Apparently, the look on his face was enough to make everyone else look as well, and before long all was forgotten about him as everyone stared at the thing until suddenly it rolled over, revealing nothing but a sleep-deprived face hauntingly staring back.

"It took you half a minute to quiet down, and that was only when I entered after waiting in the hall for eight minutes. Not good enough. If you all want to become heroes and be a part of this hero course, you all need to buck up real soon because I _can_ expel this entire class should I see fit." everyone gasped as he said this whilst unzipping what now revealed itself to be just a sleeping back. The man wore black, loose clothing with sleek boots and a dark grey utility belt, but other than that it was completely normal. What was most noticeable, however, was the unkempt, long, black, shaggy hair that framed cold black eyes that seemed bloodshot and tired. "My name is Shota Aizawa, and I am your form-room teacher for the foreseeable future."

"Now I want all of you to get these on and meet me outside within five minutes. Anyone who fails to do so... _don't._ " he trailed off, eyes turning red and hair levitating as he gazed down the entire class, leaving the terrifying threat open, no-one wanting to know what would happen. "Midoriya, stay behind. The rest of you, you now have only four minutes and fifty seconds left." and with that, everyone else bolted out of the room, grabbing the gym uniforms as they went and leaving Izuku alone with the absurdly confusing homeroom teacher.

"Y-You need me, sir?"

"I've read your file in detail. You have an incredible entrance exam score, but that's not all you need to survive in this school. Now, I want you to bring out all of your Pokémon so they can each participate in the fitness tests we're going to be running. There are custom designed UA uniform accessories for each of them. Now get going and be quick. I'll give you an extra minute to compensate for the current time lost and for your friends." he handed over a small bag containing the items.

"Y-Yes sir." with that, he scurried off with the small bag of clothes. Izuku wasn't exactly sure at first how clothes would work for Torterra, however once he pulled them all out in a separate corner of the changing rooms and revealed the clothing, it all made a little more sense.

Riu got given a short-sleeved UA gym top that had a hole for his spike to fit through. Pikachu already wore his iconic red scarf, and for him there just seemed to be a simple velcro-like patch that read 'UA' in bright golden-yellow, which he stuck onto the end of the scarf. Ahri received an adorable bandana which fit round her neck fluff perfectly, whilst both Bui and Zephyr got given a blue wristband each, which Zeph instead decided to put it on his tail. Tor got given a headband that actually looked better than Izuku would have imagined on his head.

Finally, for Izuku, he got given the usual UA gym clothes he'd always seen on TV from the annual Sports Festival, however alongside that seemed to be a custom red and blue cap that had yellow trim and also read 'UA' on the top. He wasn't sure how, but every article of clothing seemed to fit perfectly for all of them, despite him never giving or taking measurements to anyone. The only idea he had in his mind was that they had worked out their individual sizes from the video recordings from the entrance exam, but to have it all made within a week?!

Then Izuku remembered that Yueei has more money than most governments in the world and the idea didn't seem quite as far fetched...

But making it outside, the rest of the class all turned to stare at them intently as they approached, Everyone whispering different things about how 'cool', 'manly' or 'adorable' (in Ahri's case particularly) they looked. Everyone still looked at the creatures in modest awe due to never seeing anything like them before, meanwhile Katsuki was giving Izuku the deadliest of killer glares, but he tried to ignore it -especially when Riu stood between them and blocked him off, which he was thankful for.

"You have _six_ of these fuckers? What, you needed _bodyguards_ as a hero, _Deku?"_ the words cut as they all passed the blonde, however Pikachu (as always, up on Izuku's right shoulder [with Ahri on his left]) released a short spark which arced towards the boy and jolted him minutely. Izuku wanted to scold the cheeky Pikachu that was currently howling in laughter and snorting insults towards the other boy, however when he realised that not even Lucario was stopping him, he decided in that moment that perhaps he cared too much about someone who didn't reciprocate it. This was noticeably the first time that Izuku didn't check Katsuki on whether or not he was okay, opting instead to simply continue walking, and the blonde noticed this too, releasing only a growl at the confidence Deku seemed to be gaining.

"Right, now that you're all here, -and no, I'm not expelling Midoriya for being late Hagakure, I gave him extra time-, let's begin with a demonstration. Midoriya." the teacher turned his gaze singularly towards the boy in the centre of his noticeably isolated group.

"Y-yes sir?"

"What was your record distance for ball toss in junior high?"

"U-uhm... f-forty metres or so sir, but I can't remember exactly, sorry sir."

"It was forty-one metres, keep up. Knowing your current limits is the only way you can learn to surpass them, which is vital as a hero. Your aim is to forever improve, because the moment someone tells you they have 'perfected something', you'll often find yourself disappointed." it seemed the man was talking from cynical experience, but it was a fair point that all the students noted. "Now, I want you to stand in that circle over there and throw this ball as far as you can. You have no limitations other than that you cannot leave that circle under any circumstances. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Izuku took a deep breath as he held the ball and stood within the circle. Just as he reeled his arm back, however, he stopped.

_'Hold on, no limitations other than leaving the circle? Wait a minute, then why am AM I throwing it?!'_ He sent a weary glance towards Aizawa, who simply stared back with a blank, bored expression that held concealed curiosity as to what he was thinking.

Deciding to take the risk and push the boundaries of the rules, Izuku called over both Buizel, who came over in confused bafflement, as well as Lucario.

 _"_ Bui? _-What's wrong?"_ Buizel questioned as Lucario simply remained silent and listened.

"Alright guys, teamwork time. Aizawa-sensei said their were no limits other than I can't leave the circle, so there are two ways I could approach this. Either just by getting one of you guys to walk endlessly in a direction to prove you can take the ball as far as possible without me leaving the circle... But I don't think that's really fair to do, so we'll do the other option. This is what I'm thinking..."

After a half a minute of whispering, Aizawa was about to say that Izuku failed and to call him back, however they beat him to it by seconds as they all moved into position. Midoriya moved to the edge of the circle and faced towards the two Pokémon, looking ready to throw the ball up into the air. Lucario then dropped into side-on stance and pulled back his fist which began to glow red. Buizel stood just behind them, looking steady and prepared to do something himself, but what that was Aizawa couldn't tell. He then watched as with perfect execution, Lucario nodded, Midoriya threw the ball up into the air and at the perfect angle for the Pokémon to hit with a shattering punch that exploded on impact (Focus Punch), however just as he did that, a stream of rocket-powered water then burst from Buizel's mouth (Hydro Pump) which not only connected with the _already_ sound-shatteringly fast baseball, but began propelling it _even further and faster,_ keeping up it's perfectly straight trajectory for a good kilometre before it began to slowly angle from gravity's unrelenting effect.

The entire class stared in silence, Aizawa having to suppress his own expression of shock, something he rarely felt, until finally the phone in his hand beeped, signifying the tracker within the ball had travelled so far that it had _lost signal_ and simply resulted in displaying 'infinity', which whilst he knew was highly impossible due to physics, he couldn't alter.

Turning towards the class, they all gasped as they read the display, collectively screaming "INFINITY?!" as Izuku flushed now that he realised all pin-pointed attention was back on him due to their elaborate stunt.

 _'Maybe that was a little..._ too _much.'_

"The range on this is about twenty kilometres, so whilst it's impossible to be accurately recorded as infinity, it certainly exceeded at least that much." Aizawa stated blankly as all the students thought 'well that's not _much_ better!'.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Bakugou launched himself at Izuku, palms crackling and ready to sear their target with explosive fury, however he didn't even make it ten feet before the ground splintered and shook directly beneath his feet, causing him to stop before he broke his ankles. Everybody followed where the large, elevated cracks in the ground originated with their eyes, meeting the cold face of Tor, staring the bully down -his front leg was still slammed into the ground, which was surrounded by a small crater.

Before anything escalated further, however, something that looked like a grey scarf or bandages coiled around Katsuki, constricting him. Within that moment Izuku realised as he looked back at Aizawa and saw them connected to the 'scarf' around his neck, who their homeroom teacher truly was.

"W-wait a minute, I know that gear and outfit now! Y-you're the underground hero, _Eraserhead_!" his voice caught the attention of the rest of the class as well as the teacher as they all looked at him. "Not much is known about you since you avoid the media and spotlight, but that's because your quirk requires that! You have the ability to temporarily negate or erase other people's quirks!" at that everyone gasped in surprise at the powerful man that acted so aloof before them. "I don't know anything about your scarf, either, but I have heard that it's made of some kind of memory alloy that makes it super strong and resilient, but how you control it is beyond me!" his inner fanboy doused as he remembered where he was, instantly shrinking down on himself.

Izuku was surprised, however, when he wasn't told off for rambling or saying too much. "Yes, I am Eraserhead, and yes you are correct about the basics of my quirk, I'm surprised enough that you found out even _that_ much about me, but well done Midoriya. It seems you aren't just all 'power and display' like a certain Symbol of Peace is, which is good. You all should take note on how aware Midoriya is of the world around him. Knowing about heroes and villains, but _especially_ the secretive ones will always lead to an advantage of knowledge and preparation against your enemies. Like now; unlike anyone else here, Midoriya has already analysed and processed what he could about the situation and about myself, working out quite a lot, whilst the rest of you simply watched the events occur." Izuku blushed heavier than he had all day from the unexpected praise he was receiving.

  
 _“How... how did you go from being a pebble in the road to THIS in **one day?!”**_ Bakugou growled lowly, attracting all the attention back to him. “Tell me, you never were quirkless, were you? **was all if it a fucking lie, DEKU?”** the boy continued struggling against the bindings but not having much luck.

"That’s enough. You won't escape these easily, trust me-“

 _”You’re wrong.”_ the quiet yet steely words cut through, silencing everyone as Izuku stared at the ground. “Until ten months ago, I truly did believe I was quirkless! I was told so by everyone I’ve ever known since I was _FOUR!” So stop accusing me of lying to you, Kacchan, you’re the one who told me to kill myself because of it, so why the hell would I hide my quirk if I knew?_ The last part was whispered beneath his breath, silent to everyone, but by the look on his face, the explosive boy still knew what he said.

Whispers erupted throughout the tense atmosphere as people were openly shocked at hearing the boy say he had seemingly ‘only known about his quirk for ten months’. Aizawa filed away that little bit of information for later, as it correlated with what the quirk registration forms said in the boy’s files -which he had mostly doubted as true, until now.

Aizawa then turned towards Bakugou, who had stoppedstruggling within the bindings, “If I have to use my quirk on you in another episode like this again, you'll be out of UA before you I can blink _-literally_. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes _sir_." the boy growled in irritated resignation, but went lax within the constraints as they loosened and retracted back to around Aizawa's neck.

"Good. Now, lets all get started. There are eight tests in total that we need to go through for all of you, and we've wasted enough time pointlessly as it is."

"-Oh, and one last thing: Whoever scores last in the class by the end of today will be expelled."

The entire class gasped, wanting to argue, but his steely, authoritative gaze deterred them.

* * *

By the end of the day, Izuku felt decidedly proud of himself. Finishing up the ball throw for the others, several people got amazing scores through ingenious use of their quirks, such as Bakugou and his explosions, a black haired girl who could pull things from her skin, and also a girl who seemed to negate gravity on objects she touched (she understandably beat his own score with a _true_ infinity, as without gravity her ball would go on quite literally _forever_.

For several of the other tests, there wasn't any way he could 'cheat' them using his Pokemons' ability, such as the seated toe-touches or the side-steps, however for things like the long jump and multi-distance sprints, just piggybacking on Lucario and letting his insane physical ability carry them both forward was enough to score far above average. Throughout the tests, his Pokémon were actually also scored and tested by Aizawa, which was likely to get a grip on how strong they were currently compared to the future which Izuku understood.

In many ways, relying on his Pokémon for so much disheartened Izuku; he felt relatively useless himself without even one of them with him, however none of the Pokémon allowed him to think like that for long, always reminding him that they were a team and that they all work together to be the best as one.

But was it wrong of him to feel this way...?

Either way, at the end, Izuku read his name at the top of the board, with 'Momo Yaoyorozu' coming second, who he presumed was the black haired girl that was doing really well in all the tests. Third was a boy called 'Shoto Todoroki', the surname ringing a heavy bell in Izuku's mind but he couldn't quite place where yet. Finally, the last notable score was Bakugou in fourth, which seemed to infuriate the boy to unfathomable heights. The others all scored between for either excelling in particular tests but not all, or simply by getting as high averages as possible, however in the end, the boy who came last ended up being a small boy with purple orbs for hair, called 'Mineta Minoru'.

The way he took it was... less that respectable to say the least.

"What? I... came... last...? But what about my harem!? The only reason I came to this school was to become a strong, popular hero and get it on with some sexy girls! IT CAN'T BE OVER ON THE FIRST DAY!!!" he wailed, before hateful, ghostly eyes turned towards Izuku. _"You..._ You. This is all _your_ fault! WHY DO YOU GET TO BE SO POWERFUL AND NO-BODY ELSE?! HUH?! WHY CAN'T _I_ HAVE A QUIRK LIKE YOURS YOU USELESS WANNABE! YOU DIDN'T EVEN _DO_ ANY OF THE WORK YOURSELF IN THOSE TESTS AND YET YOU COME _ **FIRST PLACE?!**_ WHAT'S UP WITH THAT-" he yelled as quiet murmurs began to break out. Izuku shrunk in on himself in shock as the words echoed, making him feel infinitely worse and selfish than he already did.

 _"Is that why you're here?_ For greedy aspirations that do not benefit society -the entire and sole reason heroes exist? To be jealous of others that simply used their initiative and performed well? You are correct, Mineta Minoru, that Izuku Midoriya is ‘lucky‘ to have a quirk such as his own, however _we_ are lucky as a society that someone with such a powerful quirk is a good person aiming to do the right things. Would you prefer it if Midoriya here was a villain that _you_ were tasked to face someday during your 'future career'?"

The boy gulped, breaking under the intense stare and shaking his head minutely.

"No, I didn't think so. Now, I already plan to test Midoriya and solely Midoriya during tomorrow's lesson, as I wish to know that he would be safe and capable on his _own_ as a hero, as well as with his team, however you trying to start up riots and prejudice against him for no reason other than jealousy is beyond disappointing; it's shameful."

"The only reason that Midoriya came _first_ and you came _last_ , is that _he_ utilised his maximum potential through what resources he had access to in order to be efficient and effective. _You,_ on the other hand,were lazy throughout every test and coasted on minimal effort, the only exception being your single high score in side-steps. There were plenty of other helpful opportunities that your quirk could have provided had you thought things through a bit more, but you didn't capitalise on any of those, which is why you are no hero in the making. Until now, that threat of expulsion was supposed to be a logical ruse in order to bring out the best results from you to truly test your limits and potential, however now after hearing _that,_ I believe it would be far better to cut your career to 'heroism' short, before _any hopeful civilians lose their lives when depending on a half-hearted hero like yourself._ Mineta Minoru, you are hereby expelled as of this moment, go collect your things and do not return come tomorrow morning." his words cut like knives through the air as everyone held their breath at the ruthless way the hero tore into the boy, but held mild sneers for what he had said and how he had acted, no-one feeling too sorry for him any longer.

To say there existed a 'walk of shame' worse than his would be unimaginable, and that was how the day wrapped up for the new members of Class 1-A. Nobody really talked much after that, everyone opting to simply return tomorrow and hope for a better day and fresher start to their year than today had been.


	9. Mettle of Midoriya

**_"I AM HERE!!_ Coming through the door, like a normal person!"**

So far, the second day of the year had been nothing but usual academic lessons within the school. Everything had calmed down immensely since the incidents during the apprehension test, but now, at the end of the day, the students had their first true Heroics lesson planned, and judging by who just entered, it was going to be taught by the one and only Number One Hero: All Might to boot!

The class erupted into ecstatic talking as they took in the incredible hero's presence, wearing his Silver Age costume that was as somebody mentioned, a blast from the past from when the man was in his true prime.

**"It is I, All Might, your new teacher for heroics this year! Now before any of you ask, yes I am a new staff member of UA. Today, we're going to be doing something I'm sure many of you have been anticipating... Combat Training!"**

Katsuki's face lit in a smirk, "Combat..."

Whilst Izuku took a deep breath, "...training..."

Midoriya hadn't forgotten what was said the day prior by Mr Aizawa. Despite waiting all day for the man to surprise him with some test of some sort to 'gauge his safety on his own', nothing had come up. If anything, the teacher seemed as though he had forgotten all about it, which only served to unnerve the boy further, as if there was only one thing he was certain about already regarding the man, it was that he was serious and meant what he said. So Izuku didn't believe the teacher's indifferent gaze for a second. 

**"Now, I have a very special surprise for you all today... Take a look at** _ **these!"** _All Might clicked a small remote in his hand and suddenly the entire wall along the side of the classroom split open, with twenty small compartments extending out, all numbered. **"These are all of your personally designed hero costumes! I'm certain in the future you will all find flaws or have extra accessories that you would like to change or add to improve them, which all comes with experience, but for now I will ask that you all put these on and make your way to Training Site Beta! I will be awaiting your heroic arrivals as though this is your first debut -as it technically is with your costumes, so make sure you all get it right! Don't disappoint me now!"**

"Yes, sir!" the class cheered as they stormed out with anticipant smiles.

After getting dressed into his hero costume, Izuku smiled. It was simple, really. Just some cargo trousers with countless pockets and made out of a special, nigh-indestructible fibre, with his iconic red shoes (that he wouldn't wear only if the world was burning), as well as a simple grey top that was stretchy and flexible, yet fit snug around his body, meaning it was hard to grab to be used against himself. It was also made out of a material that was similar to carbon fibre in its properties, but more versatile as it worked as comfortable but protective clothing since it wasn't rigid.

Finally, he decided to don his UA gym cap, as after a thought, he decided it would look great with his simplistic costume, whilst adding a bit of colour for flair as well. It fit well with the rest, and hopefully soon he could get some designs made for custom accessories much like the ones his Pokémon had been gifted the day prior, as they each suited them very well.

The reason Izuku didn't decided to go with his childhood costume design of a teal green jumpsuit with long ears was because he didn't think it fit right in his team, as it was flashy and cool, attracting all the attention, yet it would have worked far better if he had a super-strength quirk or something in a different universe.

As the last people began finishing up, Izuku took one look at his Pokémon and spoke his thoughts, "I'm not going to lie, you guys are definitely going to get your own small accessories like what they gave us for gym clothes, they really suited you all to a tee.

The Pokémon all grinned and nodded, as they had each loved having their own mini costumes as it made them feel more fitting as being heroes and made a nice change to never wearing anything as they usually did.

**(AN: Epic Music is always epic:<https://youtu.be/Fui_rZtG-js> \- Imagining Izuku, his team and the rest of the class all walking forward together with this music is a legendary picture in my head)**

Making their way outside, the entire class decided to follow All Might's words and really make a first image. Together and all in their varying, awesome costumes, they continued forward until they exited a final underpass leading to All Might, who at that point was booming his approval.

 **"HAHAHA! _YES!_ Seeing you all approach as silhouettes cast in black, before revealing your heroic appearances through the tunnel, incredible! _THAT_ is what I call a heroic entrance, you all probably beat most other Pros I know! That's an A* from me!" **he gave a thumbs up as the class all flushed and internally squealed at hearing the strongest Hero in the _World_ express such praise towards them.

 **"Now, let me explain how this lesson is going to go! Everyone will be split up into teams of two at random through use of this lottery box! Next, two teams will be again randomly pitted together, with one playing as the Hero team, and the other as the Villains. The aim of the heroes is to tactically insert themselves into a building that the villains are hiding in in order to defuse a bomb that the villains are aiming to protect! The matches will be fifteen minutes each, and don't forget that there will be nothing beyond a few bruises or cuts on each team. As your first lesson, we aren't looking to kill each other, only to learn. Is this understood?"** the man finalised as he slipped his written scenario script into his back pocket and glanced up at the class.

"Sir! With all due respect, why are the teams being randomised? Surely if we could choose our partners, we could form better strategies?" it was Iida who asked this.

"I-it's probably because in a real situation, we'll have to arrive at scenes without any clue of what the situation will really be like. We can't plan who will be there, or who w-we'll be against, so it would be good for us all to practice getting used to partnering and working with people we aren't used to or don't fully understand." Izuku mumbled, before blushing under the class' stares -including All Might's incredulous look. "S-sorry... I have a habit of muttering..."

**"No, no, young man, you are entirely correct! Don't apologise, adding your own input is vital as a hero, no one person has full say about a situation, it's important to contribute, even if you aren't the leader in a team! And listening to your teammates is also what makes you a good leader!"**

"Ah, I understand now, sir. I apologise for not seeing something so obvious sooner. Midoriya-san, you are truly perceptive!"

"P-please... it's nothing, Iida-san. I was only taking a guess." Izuku tried to smile calmly, but inside he was screaming, _'Why do I always keep getting the attention?!?!'_

As teams were picked and matched together, time slowly passed as different teams took different approaches, executed different strategies, and utilised different techniques throughout their matches, either winning or losing in the end. As each match went on and he discovered more and more about his classmates' quirks, however, Izuku only found himself getting nervous, but he couldn't quite place why.

It was only when All Might placed the box on the ground after the last group, that he pieced it all together.

His Pokémon seemed to all be just as confused as he had been, but only Lucario's face lit up in similar recognition at the situation.

"It seems you've finally figured out what's going on, Midoriya-san." A weary voice sounded from behind them all, and the class turned as a collective to face their homeroom teacher. Slowly but surely, other people began piecing details together on their own as well.

"Hold on... Midoriya hasn't had his fight yet, has he?" Kirishima spoke up in curiosity.

"You're right, how could we all have forgotten?!" Hagakure followed up.

"But hasn't everyone else already gone? What's up with that?"

Everyone looked around, until Yaoyorozu finally spoke up, "If I had to make an educated guess, it seems that due to the... _expulsion_ yesterday, there is an odd number in our class now. Midoriya got unlucky as that odd one out, but I don't understand why he wasn't just partnered in another team to make three or such..."

Aizawa grumbled "Almost, but not quite. You're close, however, Yaoyorozu. The only thing you haven't picked up on, was that this was never about _luck_ regarding who was left out, as Midoriya never had his name within that box in the first place. That's because _he's going to be facing me."_

Everyone choked on still, silent air as the teacher spoke.

"B-but sir... i-isn't that a bit u-unfair...?" A girl with short, bob-cut, brown hair and pink cheeks softly spoke, nervous under the teacher's gaze but steeling herself with her moral compass.

Aizawa simply sighed, before continuing. "Yes, it _is_ unfair. But who said it wouldn't be? The world is a dangerous, cruel place. Disasters aren't fair to the victims, villains aren't fair to hostages or casualties. That is why heroes exist. To balance the equation. If there's one lesson you all need to learn -and _soon-_ about the world, it's that it isn't the same happy, innocent place you all get told it is in fairy tales as kids."

The boy at the centre of Aizawa's attention gulped, before dropping his head and muttering, "You... want me to _fight you_... _Alone_...?" Izuku felt his breath catch like a fish on a line.

"That is correct, Midoriya. In order for you to proceed as a member of U.A.'s Hero Course, I have decided that it is only fair that you prove _yourself_ to be worthy of attending. You may not always be able to rely on your companions in times of crisis, many of them likely spread out to rescue civilian victims or battle multiple opposing threats. In those times, I want to ensure that _you_ will be able to not only take care of your friends, but _yourself._ Do you accept this proposal? I will confirm that should you decline, you will _not_ be staying at Yueei High, scholarship student or not. Nedzu has full trust in the decisions made by his staff, don't doubt that, and I refuse to teach a student who I don't think can protect themselves fully in the worst of scenarios."

 _'He's a scholar student too?! That's never occurred in the history of UA!!!'_ the entire class gasped internally in silence, as Todoroki and Yaoyorozu frowned, staring in confusion at the boy who never even appeared at the recommended students' examination, yet had a scholarship in the best hero academy in the world. Despite not many people talking about it yet, word spread quickly that those two had special slots due to their heritage and powerful quirks, but no-one had ever heard of there being astudent that got in that way.

Feeling almost his entire world collapse around him, Izuku tried to focus on the reassuring (yet worried) looks his Pokémon gave him, all of them providing their support. Zeph gave a confident smirk and nod, indicating that he had full confidence in Izuku to do this -or at least he held a very convincing brave-face to help him nonetheless. Riu had his arms crossed, usual stoic expression written across his face, the only words Izuku could imagine him conveying through it being 'this is good for you, it helps solidify your own ability and confidence' which helped a little bit. Bui just gave a 'Bui!', clenching his fists and nodding enthusiastically, which Izuku took as a gesture of 'beat him up, Izu!'

The rest all gave their own support, until finally Pikachu gave him a small jolt to his finger to wake him up from his self-induced panic and jolt him into motion. He sent a soft, shaky smile of gratitude in return, before stepping forward and speaking up.

"I'll play the villain, you be the hero." Aizawa stated drearily, until Izuku spoke up.

"C-could _I_ be the villain, please sir?"

The man paused, thinking for a second, before shrugging, a mostly unnoticeable tug pulling at his lips as he answered, "Well, I wasn't going to do it that way, but since you aren't scared to ask... Sure. Confidence in speaking up is something that may or may not get you what you want, but it's good to try. So you play villain and get five minutes within the building to plan. I'll be the hero and wait for All Might's signal of the match beginning. No, I won't be looking at the cameras at all. All Might will be our 'judge' to remain unbiased and fair. Understood?"

"Yes sir." and with that, Izuku took the building layout (floor design/map) from All Might, as all Villains were given the layout of the building in their preparation phases. His Pokétch automatically scanned the map, before uploading it into its own system map -something he knew he'd be using a lot more throughout his career-, displaying a small, three-dimensional hologram of the building's layout. The fake 'bomb' was located on the third floor of the five story building, which already sent off alarm bells within Izuku's head.

_'Alright... planning stage. Planning stage planning stage planning stage... Okay, I don't have my Pokémon, all I_ have _got is this floor plan, my Pokétch and my wits. I-I can make this work... Yeah.'_

Making his way to the bomb, immediately he decided he was going to change location. It was in the largest room in the _centre_ of the floor, with one large entrance and several stairwells too close for comfort. The bomb was out in the open in the brightly lit room, and if that wasn't bad enough, it was completely sparse of any objects to hide behind or use, and there were many windows lining the far wall.

_'Yeeaahh.... No.'_

* * *

Outside, Shota was leant against a wall by the building, eyes closed and deceptively 'asleep', but inside his head, plans and ideas were forming. He had no doubt that Midoriya had one of the best strategic brains he'd ever seen in a new student before, which meant he in no way could go easy on the boy without expecting failure or making a mistake he could capitalise on. Of course Aizawa wasn't going to go one-hundred-percent since that really _would_ be cruelly unfair to the boy, but...

He already could tell that Midoriya wasn't the kind to go easy on his own opponents either.

Aizawa suspected he would have moved the bomb, realising either that the teacher knew exactly where the bomb was located in these scenarios (from being a teacher) or just from its obvious location, but he'd play along and look there first anyway to see if on an off chance he could catch the boy out.

The moment the match began, Shota scaled to the first story window just above the main entrance using his practiced agility and scarf's added mobility, before silently launching down the hallways, making sure to peer into every room before proceeding. Off of a statistical value, it was dumb to plant the bomb on the first floor, as it meant that no time was wasted when searching for it, and most people would search the first floor first always due to it being... well, the first floor they come across.

Midoriya was too smart for that. Unless he was playing a reverse psychological game with him -which he doubted, as that meant he assumed he could undermine his experienced teacher on their first ever battle-, that wouldn't be his plan.

After five minutes, however, Aizawa realised that he had searched all the way up to the fifth floor, without finding a single trace of the boy. What he _did_ find, however, was that the entire fifth floor was pitch black, indicating the boy had gone around and busted all of the ceiling lights within every hallway during the preparation phase.

'Sneaky... Either he's hiding in this darkness, since all of these rooms are lightless he could be only feet away and I couldn't see him, _or_ he's set this up as a diversion, assuming I'd skip the first floor possibly and really _is_ all the way back there. I only have about two thirds the time remaining, so I have to choose on likelihood...'

Continuing forward, Aizawa slunk into the darkness. His strategy was to use his scarf to act as a sensor, spreading across the floor within rooms until it bumped into anything or found any resistance, the only exceptions being for walls. It was only once he reached the last room, however, that he heard a noise from within, sounding like uncomfortable shuffling.

'Found you.' he thought as instantly his scarf snapped out to snatch at the location of the noise, but all he found return was empty air. 'What?'

Nothing jumped out at him, and nothing made a sound as he looked out for an ambush attack during his confusion, but when all was left clear, the teacher only found himself more confused.

Meanwhile within the console room, All Might along with the rest of the class and Izuku's Pokémon, were all watching the scenes unfold.

"Did you see that?! That plan was genius! Hell guys, I think Midoriya really might win this one!"

"Yeah, no kidding. He set up his watch to play noises on a long loop as a distraction of all things! Then snuck down the opposite staircase just as Aizawa was coming up!"

"I wonder if Aizawa will realise that? I mean, Midoriya isn't even _on that floor!_ He's nowhere near at this point! If he doesn't Aizawa will run out of time and Midoriya will win without even encountering him once!"

The Pokémon all just smirked in confident unison as they watched their trusted leader and friend display his true capabilities.

 **"Quiet now, children. I'm sure things are only going to get better in these last few minutes..."** with that, everyone silenced and turned back towards the screens. The cameras left in dark hallways all had switched to night-vision mode, allowing them all to continue watching Aizawa scavenging in the dark like a predator.

Back with Aizawa, he grunted as he reached the opposite staircase to the one he had used, eyes narrowing as he spotted a few marks left on the dark wall apparently from the paper mâché bomb being carried through.

 _'Damnit, he played me...'_ He instantly soared down the stairs. He could only risk giving quick glances to each of the hallways and rooms if he wanted to search to the bottom of the building again, but just as he was about to continue to the lower floor, something suddenly clattered in the silence from across a hallway towards his left on the fourth floor, and as the man turned his head towards the noise, his eyes met with a flustered boy at the very other end, who had been in the middle of the process of lifting the fake bomb _back up to the fifth floor_ as Aizawa passed, looking to juke the teacher again.

It just seemed that the boy got unlucky in letting the large model bomb slip and bang the floor during the process, which foiled the plan that would have otherwise undoubtedly won him the match.

Aizawa launched in his direction as he tried more desperately to lift the light but large bomb into the dark floor. Now with haste and less caution, footsteps echoed and noises sounded as Aizawa tried to trace and follow the boy's steps, only a few corridors behind him but catching up rapidly.

The moment Izuku made it into the room he'd left as the decoy, he scoured around desperately on the floor for his Pokétch, hid the bomb around the corner within the room, and burst out of the room, continuing down the corridor. Now he could sense that Aizawa was right on his heels, but hopefully the teacher wouldn't suspect that he had left the bomb hidden and would continue chasing him for as long as Izuku could continue to delay.

The moment he got to the staircase leading to the fourth floor, he risked jumping directly to the bottom from the simple premonition of something catching him, and he was right, as if he had taken a single second longer, the Pro Hero's capture weapon would have caught round his waist and it would be game over.

But now, Izuku knew there was no more running. The forth floor was lit up, not exactly 'bright', but a far contrast to the last, and no longer could he evade the teacher's bindings with corners in the dark. Now he had to face him.

As the man slowed to a halt only ten metres away, piercing eyes met each other.

"So, you're done running fruitlessly, are you?"

Izuku steeled his wobbly tone, "W-why grace a hero with what he wants first time? I'm the villain, except _this_ story ends w-with a boom, not a victory on your part..." he was trying his best to stall, and in his mind, what better way was there than to act his part as the 'villain' in this match?

"Highly unlikely. Give it up, villain. You're caught. I have more experience than you, the upper hand in every regard... the only thing you have is... _the bomb."_ in those last few words of Aizawa's dramatic monologue (they were both playing hero and villain, he at least had to grace Izuku's attempts with some effort on his part, however he seemed to have noticed that Izuku no longer had the bomb in his possession.

Aizawa's eyes connected with the device clipped onto his wrist, and instantly he made sense of what happened, having a good sense of where exactly the bomb had been left.

As he turned but before he could sprint the other way back upstairs, Izuku surprised him by rushed him, jumping into the air and aiming a well placed high-kick to his head, which he only _just_ managed to dodge out of instinct alone. Before he even had time to retaliate, however, the boy was upon him again and again, launching attack upon attack directly at the back of the teacher, who was still facing his back towards him. He managed to slink nimbly around most of the blows, the ones that connected not hitting any vital parts or leaving much pain, before he rolled out of the way and spun, aiming to deliver a roundhouse kick of his own to the boy's chest, aiming to finish it in one fell swoop.

But Midoriya simply caught it, before tugging on his leg which severely unbalanced him and forcing him to compensate. The boy then launched into another relentless barrage of attacks. None of them were doing any real damage, and he seemed to know that as well, but that wasn't his main plan- it was clearly just to stall for as much time as possible to win the match.

Deciding to ramp it up a bit seeing as Izuku had far exceeded any expectations he could have imagined, Aizawa began outperforming the boy. Despite his impressive ability -he had clearly been trained in intermediate level martial arts- he did still make occasional mistakes which left too many opportunities for Aizawa to ignore. Just as he was preparing to finish the match off, suddenly everything went unexpectedly.

Judging when Aizawa was reaching his finishing point, Izuku decided it was time to play his trump card -the one he had risked everything for when running for his Pokétch. Just as Aizawa threw a heavy fist towards his face, he slid left, tapped a button and exactly as planned, a single Escape Rope appeared in his hands, taken directly from his in-game inventory!

Whilst the Pokémon watching this on the cameras were probably shocked at this as he'd kept it a secret and only discovered this a few days ago, Izuku couldn't think about this now. He threw his hands around the teacher's hand, tying an impromptu, awful knot and all in a single second, the match was over.

**"Wait a minute...! Izuku Midoriya has incapacitated the Hero! I-is that even in the rules...? No, enough of that, I declare that Izuku Midoriya has won this fight! With only thirty seconds left on the clock the match ends!"**

The entire class erupted into cluttered shouts at what they had just witnessed as the two combatants made their way back to the control room, when suddenly Izuku was absolutely swamped by his Pokémon, who all did nothing but bombard him with cheers and excitement at his victory, followed by his class, who all did very much the same thing.

"That was awesome Midoriya!"

'Yeah, how did you do that?!"

"That was some genius thinking, at first I totally didn't think you'd be able to win, but how you kept playing Aizawa-sensei by crossing opposite staircases was incredible!"

Izuku blushed under all the attention as others continued to voice their own awe, before his gaze finally met Riu's. "Still think you're a liability on our team _now?"_ he wore a rare defiant smirk as he spoke. Izuku felt his face light up with a smile brighter than ever, as those words translated perfectly into the Lucario's own way of saying 'Well done, I'm proud of you'. Today was the first day that Izuku felt he had really proved he deserved his friends and that he wouldn't let them down like he feared he might in a time of crisis.


	10. Secret Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> READ. THE. NOTES.
> 
> I mean it, it's REALLY important that you do or else you will be VERY confused later on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THIS A/N :
> 
> I have decided that I'm changing a few evolutions and how Mega Evolution works as well. By this, I mean that since I prefer Buizel's form to Floatzel, as well as Pikachu over Raichu, I'm making those final evolutions be their 'Mega Evolutions' instead. Within the realm of Pokémon, Mega Evolutions are TEMPORARY and activated once within a battle, and it ends up skyrocketing a Pokemon's stats through the roof.
> 
> There are only a select few Pokémon that have can Mega Evolve, however. Lucario is one of them, who becomes 'Mega Lucario' (search it up it looks awesome), as well as Charizard (who is actually one of only two Pokémon who can Mega Evolve into TWO different forms; X and Y). Torterra, Floatzel, Raichu and Eeveelutions, all as final evolutions of their line, CANNOT Mega Evolve in canon Pokémon, but that's not cool for my story, which is why I am making it so that those final evolutions of their lines ARE their Mega Evolutions. The only exception is going to be Torterra, who I am making a completely original Mega Evolution for as I don't really want to keep him as Grotle permanently -it's not as cool-, plus it would be unfair for Chamander to have three evolutions and two megas, but for Turtwig to only have two and a mega despite both of them being awesome starter Pokémon.
> 
> If this still confuses anyone, I'll try to explain in the comments section, but I hope you all understand. And now, enjoy the chapter :)

After the whole fiasco the other day, Izuku had ended up spending that night explaining to his Pokémon that his Pokétch gave him a lot more than anyone first realised. It was shown that he could pull just about every item out of it from in-game, including berries and poffins which his Pokémon adored (and he could make endless amounts of within the game), as well as things such as held items like Miracle Seed and Soft Sand for Torterra to hold to boost both of his typings' attack for example. There were also more useless things such as Repels which didn't help for anything in the real world (since there weren't any wild Pokémon roaming about to actively avoid) and the only thing it managed to do was force his team to vacate his room for several hours until the apparently 'pungent, putrid smell' aired out -it was odourless to him, but he believed them regardless.

But after a few days, an idea came to mind that seemed to blow every previous consideration of use out of the water. One that he knew he didn't have at his grasp currently, but was willing to try hard for in order to surprise his Pokémon with a present he was sure they'd love.

He ended up spending _countless_ hours scouring and exploring the enormous map of his game's region with his team in search of these presents. He refused to tell the Pokémon what they were, which irritated them all endlessly, but they dealt with it and trusted him. During this time, they also managed to go up a few levels, however it was _nothing_ in comparison to the jump in power they had all made during the ten months of training out in the real world, which increased their levels by dozens each.

Finally, though, he had completed what he had aimed to do. It had taken flawlessly winning _fifty battles in a row at the Battle Tower_ within the game, for it to give him a secret prize reward, and he had to search high and low for the large swirling orbs that accompanied it otherwise it would be useless, but finally he had done it.

Gathering his Pokémon in his bedroom, he told them that their search was complete. They were finished from their impromptu grinding. As they all began questioning what it was that they had finally found after all that effort, Izuku pulled out a small ring from his Pokétch, along with seven small orbs that each glowed in different merges of tri-tone colours.

"Are those... what I think they are...?" Pikachu eventually broke the tense silence, eyes wide in eager anticipation.

Lucario finished off for him, his own mouth wide in the rarest display of awe anyone had ever seen from him. "They're... Mega Stones... And Izuku has a Key Ring."

All six Pokémon turned to face their human best-friend in silent shock as he blushed under their stares.

"W-what? I just thought that... since I could pull things out of my in-game Bag, wouldn't it make sense if I could pull these out too?"

Volt took a deep breath, before turning around and pacing across the room, grumbling just beneath his breath about how much he hated the boy for being so kindhearted and impossible to compensate.

Ignoring the grouchy Pokémon's antics, the others all quietly urged Izuku to put on the ring, which had an elegant design with two silver bands overlapping as a stretched 'X' on the top. The moment it was secured around his right hand's fourth finger, he blinked his eyes as the bright flash of light that consumed his entire room.

And suddenly, sitting/standing/ pacing before him, were five ultimate form Pokémon checking themselves out in indescribable awe. "Whoah, guys my Pokédex is saying loads of stuff, apparently it's picking up on all your new forms! It says Buizel became a 'Floatzel' now! Pikachu, you're a 'Raichu', Torterra is a 'Garganterra', Lucario simply became 'Mega Lucario', and Eevee became..."

Izuku's eyes looked up in confusion when he realised that two of his Pokémon hadn't changed. A frown lit his face when he noticed Charmeleon's downcast expression, who seemingly couldn't mega evolve until he was a final evolution Charizard. Eevee was also stood beside him, however she hadn't changed at all either, despite Izuku having gotten the Eeveeolite **(A/N: I made that up so just imagine they have one)** mega stone.

Izuku went up to the fire dragon and whispered into his ear, "Don't worry, Zeph. I promise, real soon, you'll be joining them. _Trust me."_ The dragon's lips tugged upwards just a little, which was all Izuku needed, as it showed he believed in his words. Izuku then turned to Ahri. "I'm not sure why you didn't mega evolve... There's no reason for you not to, it makes no sense..." he frowned as the Eevee just sat there with her usual childish-innocence smile.

"Don't worry, I know why, but it's fine!" the Eevee just smiled an enormous grin, portraying no hint of disappointment in this turn of events. which confused but reassured the boy.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yep! Don't worry, it's fine!"

"O-okay... I trust you, just don't bottle things up if you are upset or anything, alright...?"

"Yup! Okie-dokie!"

Just as Izuku turned to further inspect his Pokémon in more detail, a growl echoed throughout the room, causing everyone to stop fawning over their new-found powerful forms, and turn towards Riu. What immediately alarmed them all, was that his usually calm, controlled gaze was pin-pricked and wild, sharp teeth glinting past open lips, and nose twitching as the growling only grew louder and louder.

Just as Izuku went to take a step forward to ask what's wrong -despite how surprised he was at seeing a _not_ calm and collected Riu, when the Pokémon practically vanished, instantly appearing in-front of him as though he had teleported, and apparently the only one who had kept up with his speed was Volt, who in serious concern, had placed himself between Izuku and the feral-seeming Pokémon. Everyone began moving to catch up as they all realised something was _clearly_ wrong with the Lucario, and they couldn't all sit and relax to watch events unfold.

"W-what's wrong? R-Riu-" Izuku was cut off with a growl and a pointed glare that pierced directly through his eyes and cut through his soul, causing the boy to freeze in sudden terror as the five other Pokémon immediately surrounded him.

It seemed that the Lucario realised it was outmatched, despite its power, when it gauged the five other Pokémon -looking at them all as though he'd never known them-, so he scanned his gaze around the room and stopped upon seeing the window. It seemed he was about to punch through it and leap outside, before suddenly the entire room was once more enveloped in blinding light, as every Pokémon within the room suddenly found themselves reverted back to their original forms in confusion.

It seemed they had all ran out of time or something of the sort, possibly due to having them all evolve at the same time together, but before anything could happen again, Izuku tore the ring off from his finger and let it clatter to the ground as he stared wide-eyed at Riu.

The Lucario was staring back, but seemed terrified beyond anything he had ever seen. The Pokémon seemed petrified to stone as he stared into space seemingly looking _through_ Izuku and at something monstrous behind. Before anyone could speak up about what happened, the Lucario took an uncertain step back, before looking desperate to escape, and dashing over to the window (at least this time without aiming to break it), he opened it rapidly and leaped out before anyone could catch him or stop him.

Together, all six beings left within the room glanced worriedly at each other and the spot the Lucario had previously occupied, silent questions and concerns racing through them all.

_'W-wh-what... was t-that....?'_ Izuku breathed, speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any better names for Lucario's Mega Evolution name as I couldn't come up with any good ones, please comment below and I'll take any into consideration :)


	11. Interlude of Prior and Following Disaster(s)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for having two short chapters in a row, but it just ended up coming out this way and I don't want to change what works, but don't worry, if you read the Chapter Title with scrutiny, you'll probably understand what chapter is coming next... :3

Lucario eventually _did_ come back in the end, but things weren't the same since what happened yesterday. Everyone was one edge, not from Riu himself, but what he became when he Mega Evolved. Things were stressful, and it didn't help that there were apparently big plans for tomorrow's Heroics lesson at UA. The Lucario was tense, still clearly reeling in his own disbelieving shock. He seemed almost terrified if someone got more than five feet close to him, and he refused to speak for most of the day unless it was in quiet whispers to everyone.

Everyone _but_ _Izuku._

It's because the Lucario was scared. He felt fear he'd never felt before in his life, and it was jerking his usually calm mind into a flurrying tornado of confusion. For the first time in his life, he was running off emotions, exactly the opposite of what he preached for Izuku to do not long ago. He was failing at his own advise; miserably.

"Lucario-" Izuku once more went to gently touch the Pokémon's shoulder, but he flinched away.

**"Stay away."**

The reason he was so scared was simple, yet complicated. _**He almost killed Izuku.** _The moment he had Mega Evolved, pure red seemed to wash over his senses. Everything tingled with unbridled fury, instinct on the highest alert you'd find physically possible. In that one moment, it just seemed that everything was _'wrong'_ and killing would be so _'right'._

Looking back, he realised he had felt just like a wild animal that had been momentarily freed from its cage. Ready to rip apart the 'owner' of him (Izuku) and run off wild and free to do his own bidding.

But that's not the way he looked at it at all, which only made things more confusing. Izuku wasn't his 'owner' in any more sense than _literal._ Yes, Riu, along with all the other Pokémon, came to exist from Izuku's quirk, however they were sentient and made their own decisions. They weren't Izuku's 'pets', the boy had enforced that fact himself from the beginning as he hated to have that view and fully supported them as their own individuals...

Flinching when a small shock passed through his paw, the Lucario glanced worriedly down at the Pikachu beside him, who was currently giving him a death stare -and had been since the moment he returned (of which Riu _still_ wasn't sure if that was a smart idea to do so soon).

 _"Come with me."_ Volt stated with more demand in his tone than Riu had the confidence to deny currently. They walked out of the room and away from all the others, entering another room and Volt closing the door behind them.

 _"What."_ Riu was trying his best to remain steady and level like he usual was, it was just so hard right now.

"You are acting shamefully. Are you really going to just leave him craving your attention to say he forgives you and that you need to forgive yourself? All he wants is to know that you aren't going to run away again, and right now that's just about the only thing on his mind judging by the panicked worry on his face. You flinching and fearing him is only making things _worse."_

"I don't fear him... I-I fear _myself_."

"Whoop-dee-doo. _I couldn't tell."_ the Pikachu squinted with sassy sarcasm as the Lucario scowled at his attitude.

"I- I can't. I can't be near him right now." he wanted to leave it at that, but the damned electrified mouse wouldn't have it.

"Why? Because you're a coward, or becau-"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO _KILL HIM!"_ the screamed yell reverberated deafeningly throughout the room, and both Pokémon realised undoubtedly that they were heard throughout the entire house. Immediately, the Lucario blanched, eyes widening and air catching in his throat.

_That was the ONE thing he was trying so desperately not to admit the entire day._ He felt like if he could just not admit it, it wouldn't be true in the slightest, but that wasn't how that worked. The only way the Lucario would realise this would be if he was calm, however...

_As we have been over this, HE IS NOT FEELING VERY CALM RIGHT NOW._

"But do you feel the same now? Have you _ever_ felt the same way other than in your temporary mega evolution? What about the other day when you both were on the sofa having a moment? I've never seen you so flustered in my life! I know you'd never hurt Izuku intentionally except apparently when in this other form, but that just means _you don't use that_ and we're all fine _._ Have you _ever_ willingly wanted to hurt him normally?"

"... N-no. No, I don't want Izuku to get scratched, let alone k- _killed_. I'd hate myself for _bruising_ him. B-but... Volt, you don't understand... When I was like that... I was wild. I felt like I knew what being a feral Pokémon was like in that exact moment, and it terrified me with how good it made me feel... I'm scared of how powerful I felt, as much as I hate to ever admit it."

"Then you simply don't Mega Evolve unless we figure out a way to stop you from going 'beast mode' on us, and nothing can happen. And so now you go in there, apologise to everyone, and give Izuku the best god-damn hug you can muster to prove not only to him, but to yourself that you're not going to hurt him. Otherwise you bet you'd _wish_ I had restrained the amount of electricity I plan to circulate through you..." it was a joking threat, but one Riu didn't doubt the other meant to keep.

"... Alright." slowly, they made their way back to the main room where everyone else was hanging out. Their faces portrayed serious concern, but Midoriya was the worst off, having his back to them all and sitting on the settee with his knees up to his chin.

It took every ounce of strength for Riu to swallow his fear, but shakily he made his way over to the boy, before cautiously enveloping him in a hug.

"I'm... so sorry for worrying you..."

The two just stayed there for a while as everyone remained silent, waiting on the boy's response. At first, they were all worried that he wasn't responding because he himself was now scared from what he heard earlier, however they were all surprised when the unresponsive boy suddenly swung his arms around the worried Pokémon, before clutching him tightly.

"You're not feral. Or wild. Or anything for me to be scared of. You're Riu, the Lucario who's soon going to be a hero alongside everyone else in this room. We're a team, alright? We won't Mega Evolve you again any time soon, but that's no reason for you _or_ me to be scared of something you aren't."

The Lucario just blinked warily, still a little tense, before deciding to go fully lax in his grip and just enjoy the comfort he had needed for hours now to reassure his weary mind.

Before either of them knew it, they were eventually out like a light, both bundled up against each other on the sofa as the rest of the Pokémon all collectively joined them, finding their own little spots to fit in together like jigsaw pieces of the perfect team.


	12. Another 'Secret Surprise'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some gruesome images. You have been warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, I've kinda just been exploring and enjoying other ideas I've had recently, but I'm not cancelling this fic or anything for anyone who's worried :)

Far faster than he could have expected, Izuku found himself exiting the bus that lead the class to their second heroics lesson. It was off main-campus once again, but this time, it seemed the school had decided to expend even _more_ ridiculous amounts of money to fund a building called the 'USJ' (Unforeseen [disaster] Simulation Joint -not to be confused with Universal Studios Japan) and quite frankly, the dome building was colossal.

But since arriving, something within Izuku's gut had been churning. An odd, indescribably twinge warning him of something, but what exactly, he was unsure.

 _"Something's wrong..."_ he whispered as several classmates overheard him and paused, all wondering what he meant.

"What do you mean?"

"Something doesn't feel right... W-we shouldn't be here." he looked up sternly, eyes catching with Aizawa as the teacher frowned discreetly, before taking control.

"All right, all right calm down everyone, don't be paranoid of new places. We're here to do some rescue training and a hero is inside waiting for us all, so let's not keep them waiting." that seemed to dispel the uneasy atmosphere as the class entered the main doors and found themselves at the top of a large, open staircase that lead down to countless different disaster zones such as a flood zone, a burning city, a landslide zone, and several others. Standing at the top of the staircase and waiting for them, was the pro hero.

"Hey there everybody! Great to see all you young and peppy hero-hopefuls! I'm-"

"Space Hero 13!!! I swear, I'm your biggest fan through and through!" a girl with short, bob-cut, brown hair squealed, lightening the inadvertently lightening the previous tension in the air. Everyone laughed as she shied from her outburst in embarrassment, including the hero.

"Well, you all heard her! Now, before we start, there are just one or two things I need to explain- possibly three. _Or four..."_ they counted on their hand sheepishly as Aizawa groaned.

Before anything else could be said, however, the air shifted around them, the atmosphere itself turning cold and ominous. Without a second thought, Izuku immediately brought out all of his combatant Pokémon.

Lucario had hardly appeared from his ball when his head snapped to the centre of the plaza a distance away, eyes narrowing and posture lowering defensively. His actions caught the attention of Aizawa and Izuku, along with all the other Pokémon and his classmates.

 _"I read close to one hundred aura signatures coming from over there, but it's empty-"_ his breath caught, silencing himself as a small ball of dark, purple mist coalesced in the centre, gradually expanding, until before everyone's eyes, countless dozens of villains began appearing.

"Thirteen, protect the kids and evacuate! I'll hold them off!" Aizawa yelled, pulling down his goggles and crouching to launch into the fray. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard Izuku muttering orders between his team. "No, you aren't going to fight them! Go with the others, that's an order Midoriya!"

"But sir, we can help! Despite your skill as a pro, your quirk just isn't oriented towards crowd control, it's optimal for one-on-one ambushes!"

"I won't tell you again-"

"This is the situation we as a team would excel at!" the boy strained his voice yelling as they stared at each other momentarily, his Pokémon stood backing him up behind him.

The teacher growled, _"Your quirk is good for this,_ which is _why_ you need to stay with your classmates and protect them!"

Izuku blinked at the logical reasoning, but very quickly hardened his gaze. "I'm not here to become a hero that prioritises _who_ I protect. _I'm here to become a hero that saves anyone and everyone; that includes you,_ because the moment you go out there, you're going to die! _"_ he turned towards his Pokémon, plan already formulating in his head.

"Alright, Ahri and Volt, stick with our classmates and keep them safe, Ahri focussed on keeping everyone calm and providing support, let someone hold you if they're shaking and scared, it helps far more than most people would think psychologically. Volt is the best between us for crowd control, which is why he stays with the others. The rest of you, Stick with me and we'll try and hold off all the villains with Aizawa-sensei. For the most part, they all look like average thugs and manageable, so no lethal attacks unless _absolutely necessary._ Those three in the back I suspect are the leaders, so watch out incase they make a move on you." he glanced at the lanky man with ash grey hair and covered in severed hands, the black, mindless-looking creature as large as All Might, and finally the mist quirk villain.

Just as they were all about to descend the staircase into the madness below, the mist villain disappeared from his spot by the other main villains. Instantly, Izuku's gaze shot around, trying to follow where he must have teleported, until he heard the yells and screams behind him.

By the time he made it back to his classmates, many of them had disappeared through portals in the ground, splitting them all up; but where, he had no idea.

"Where did you send them?!" he growled out through his frayed nerves. Now wasn't the time to be scared stiff, he had to take action as that's what a hero had to do.

The villain's luminescent, orange eyes shifted within the mist, squaring onto the boy and the unrecognisable creatures surrounding him. "Oh? What have we here... Seems you have a very unique quirk, what are these creatures? Are they _sentient...?"_ the way the villain spoke enticingly sent shivers down his spine.

 _Why does he care so much about how my quirk works...?_ "No, they aren't sentient. I have the ability to turn computer game animals real and control them." he lied through his teeth, but his Pokémon seemed to understand as they remained silent and still, all waiting as though he actually was controlling them.

"I see... Well that's a shame, for a moment I thought we may have found a true _diamond in the rough..."_ he leered, eyes unmoving from Izuku's own. "As for your own question.... They're alive. _For now._ Since you explained your quirk, I'll be honourable and say that I warped your classmates randomly around this large building and into the waiting hands of other villains to kill. And now, _you may join them."_ before Izuku could react, a portal appeared beneath each of them, and the moment both the faster two Pokémon, Riu and Volt went to evade and grab Izuku, they were intercepted by two more portals which successfully caught them.

Landing with a shocking splash, it took all of Izuku's willpower not to gasp as he submerged underwater without warning. His eyes opened blearily, and he was just able to make out a few silhouettes approaching him, before suddenly they were stopped by another, faster blur in the water.

Before his mind could even consider thrashing in panic at what appeared to be villains trying to kill him, a familiar orange paw grasped his arm, followed by him rocketing upwards like a torpedo and bursting into the air, before both his saviour and himself landed sprawled on a hard, metallic surface.

Coughing up water, he peeled his eyes open to scan his surroundings, wary of any villains. It seemed he had been launched out of the water and deposited on a large boat, just far enough out of reach from the villains he could now count within the water. Beside him stood Buizel, crouched over his form in worry, and just to his side Izuku spotted Asui Tsuyu.

"Bui! _Izuku!"_

"Midoriya-san, what's going on?" 

He looked at the two of them, each glad they had found each other already. "T-that mist villain said he was spreading all of our classmates for other villains to kill... We need to find the others before that happens! Asui-"

"Please call me Tsu, kero." the girl interrupted.

"O-of course. T-Tsu, what's your quirk? We need to all know each other's abilities if we want the best chances to get through this situation."

"Well, it's just a frog mutation simply put. My tongue can stretch to roughly twenty metres, I can jump really high and far, and I can cling to perpendicular surfaces for short times. Sorry it's not that much..."

"You're kidding! T-that's plenty, Tsu-chan-"

"Just Tsu."

"Ah sorry." he sheepishly rubbed his head. "Well, I'm not entirely sure if I can recall my Pokémon from so far away, however if they're spread out among our classmates, it would be better to leave them with each other to help them survive and fight, so that leaves us with Buizel here. He's got an affinity for water like you, which must mean that the villains didn't know any of our quirks when we were warped randomly, otherwise we all wouldn't be sent here to the-" just as he was speaking, the boat they were currently on began to lurch and sink. "...shipwreck zone."

The three of them looked at each other. "Well this makes things a little harder... Uhm, where was I? Oh yeah, so they don't know our powers, which is an extremely important factor in all of this. That's likely the reason why none of the villains in the water have come up and attacked us yet, they don't know what we can do to retaliate so they're worried if we may be really powerful."

After another few moments of thought, a plan finally began formulating within his head. "Okay, in a moment, I'll need you to use Whirlpool, and as you do that, Tsuyu with grab me with her tongue and leap as far as possible in the other direction to avoid getting caught, before Buizel then pulls all three of us to shore. Simple plan, but should be effective." he told them both.

The moment the first villain got impatient and began swimming forward to climb up the boat wall, Izuku shouted 'NOW!' and Buizel used the move Whirlpool, causing the entire lake of water to begin swirling violently, clustering all the villains together in the centre, before Tsuyu grabbed him and they all leapt from the boat, just far enough away to avoid getting sucked in.

Making it to edge successfully, the three of them snuck out of the water to avoid the villains once they escaped from the move. It seemed they were just on the border between the fire zone and the landslide zone, with the centre plaza just a small distance away from them. Thankfully, Izuku spotted Riu stood beside Aizawa, fighting off the hordes of villains in the centre and protecting some other students who had already gathered back together.

"Alright, Bui, you should go to the fire zone and prioritise on saving classmates. Any villains there will likely have fire-oriented quirks like the ones in the water zone did, so you should be fine dealing with them. If I see your health drop below half, I'll either recall you, or if that doesn't work, come find you. In the meantime, however, Asui, you should go to the landslide zone, since your quirk would be great for pulling people from the rubble and for escaping if a landslide occurs, whilst I go the centre plaza and try to see if I can meet back up with everyone else who's already going there, since that's the most logical place for everyone to aim to get back to, and I need to reach Riu and Aizawa-sensei to help them. Is that alright with everyone?"

The two nodded, both telling him to be safe, with him responding likewise. Before the three of them split up and followed the plan, Izuku held Buizel back and pulled out his Keystone ring from his Pokétch watch. The Pokemon's eyes widened in realisation as he then handed it a Floatzelite.

"I have a feeling we're all gonna need it at some point, but not yet, so just keep this with you and wait until I put on the ring. I'm going to go fight the villains with whoever's there, you go save our classmates. Good luck Bui, I'm counting on you!" Izuku bumped fists with the sea-weasel.

"Bui!" he saluted, before they both split off, Izuku thumbing the Keystone ring in his hand in anticipation. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

At the same time, in the centre, the Nomu clasped hands with Zephyr as the two stood locked to a stand-still, each trying but failing to overpower the other. Despite the monster's incomparable strength, the Pokémon had just evolved into a Charizard after taking on all the small-fry villains previously, so not only did he increase drastically in size (now weighing in as a two-hundred pound dragon [look it up, a Charizard literally weighs 199.5lbs]), but he also had a tail which helped in planting himself firmly and pushing back more securely.

Just as the Nomu began to pull backwards in an attempt to pull him off-balance, he released a searing Flamethrower directly at its head, smouldering the exposed brain. Long ago, they had realised that this Nomu was not quite human -anymore...?- and in the face of its unfathomable strength and regenerative abilities, they threw caution to the wind and were forced to use lethal force in retaliation.

By 'they', Zeph was joined by both Tor and Riu, who had both made their ways beak to the centre and met back up with him, protecting the many students who had gathered back at the stairs again. They were currently trying to look after the two teachers, who had been fatally injured just moments after Zeph, but before the other two Pokémon had arrived.

Before his eyes, the monster's head began reforming as skin re-knitted across its skull like a wave of viscous flesh. The Charizard snarled as he built up fire once more in the back of his throat...

But before he could release it, the Nomu's left hand broke free from his grip and smashed him across the jaw painfully, before it rolled it up with a right-hook, launching the Pokémon backwards as though he weighed nothing.

Just as he skidded away on his back, burrowing a crater in the ground in his wake, Tor launched a razor-sharp Leaf-Storm which lacerated its muscles as he charged forward like a rhinoceros, ramming himself into the Nomu and bracing himself, trying to push it off-balance with the force of a lorry.

After regaining its senses, it swatted the Torterra away like a wasp or bee, but just as quickly, Riu appeared and aimed a high kick directly at its head, which connected yet hardly phased it. The Nomu then proceeded to stand like an untouchable giant as the fighting-steel type Pokémon unleashed a barrage of relentless attacks, all aimed at vital places, yet for every organ he disabled, the Nomu simply regenerated. His final attack was a concrete-shattering chop-kick to its upper neck in an attempt to momentarily paralyse it, yet it did nothing due to how muscly its neck was, hardly blinking an eye in reaction.

The Lucario's eyes widened in surprise when he felt the resistance when it landed, as though he had just kicked a wall constructed out of diamonds. He fired an Aura Blast directly at its face, in high hopes to behead it, and desperation to at least blind it momentarily as he backed up to regroup beside the other two. Once the initial smoke dissipated, it was apparent that the Aura attack had hardly left a dent, despite its incredible power as an attack.

"Damnit, what is this thing?!" he growled as both Zeph and Tor pulled themselves back to their feet with growls and glares of their own, determination evident on their gritted expressions.

"No idea, but if reinforcements don't come soon, we won't keep this up for much longer..."

"They sent the boy with engine-legs earlier, so all we can do is wait and protect the others. I'm certain Izuku is already on his way to help, Volt is guarding the students behind us, but Bui and Ahri are still missing. We just have to hold out." Tor stated lowly, and had they all not been in such a serious moment of concentration, the other two would have been shocked at the length of speech the other provided.

The three of them lowered their postures, ready to clash once again with the behemoth before them and readying more aura, fire and leaves.

* * *

That's him? The kid with the quirk...?" Tomura Shigaraki pointed towards the boy who had just appeared by the outskirts of the plaza and was trying to sneak around towards his classmates unnoticed.

"Yes, that's the one. He said they weren't sentient, but after all we've seen I'm beginning to doubt that..." Kurogiri stated. "Should we capture him?"

The other seemed to think for a moment, before grunting, "No, it's a waste of precious time and resources on a quirk we know nothing about. Sensei told us which quirks he wanted us to look out for in particular, just kill him instead so they stop getting in the way."

"Of course."

"And those kids all regrouped... _lousy scum. How hard is it to kill children?"_ he said, referring to the low-time criminals they had gathered in mass in order to hold this attack. "Go finish the job afterwards. All Might may not be here as we planned, but that doesn't mean we can't damage his pride and joy by crushing this new _generation of 'heroes'."_

* * *

Reaching the outskirts of the centre, Izuku was worriedly relieved to see both flames and leaf-storms erupting from within the crowd's centres it gradually thinned, meaning that both Zephyr and Tor had already converged back to protect his classmates on the front-lines of battle alongside Riu and were currently dealing with the lower-tier villains. It was hard to make out what was going on, but he could barely spot their colours from here. But just as Izuku was getting close enough to make out more from the fighting and was about to call out to his Pokémon, a black blur rocketed towards Riu at the speed of light, rearing back its enormous fist. At the same time, a portal opened up beneath Izuku, and the boy found himself suddenly standing before the black monster with frenzied eyes as it launched its fist forward faster than he could process. He had just been placed between its attack and there was no time for him to process, let alone react to it.

Shocked from his sudden appearance before him, the Lucario panicked, yelling **"Izuku!"** and rushing forward. Just before the highly lethal strike connected, he barged the boy out of the way as the creature slammed its fist directly into the Pokemon's chest, sending him sailing backwards and skidding to a halt in a trail of smoke. After it cleared, it was revealed that the Lucario had just barely managed to pull his arms up in defence before the blow connected, yet he was still clearly in lots of pain.

"Riu!" he ran over to the Pokémon, who was shakily holding himself on his feet.

"Izuku, get- out of here!" he coughed, before shoving the boy down once again as the punch sailed just over the Lucario's angled shoulder.

The Lucario then grabbed the boy and threw him away from them, over to the other two Pokémon, who were quick to plant themselves protectively before him despite their conditions.

It was only now that Izuku realised that Zephyr had actually at some point evolved into a Charizard, however that was only an afterthought in his mind, as bruises and scrapes that visibly littered his body caught his attention. Tor, a few metres away, was barely standing despite being as sturdy as he was. He looked like he had actually taken far more damage than anyone else so far, likely from protecting others repetitively.

If Izuku had to take a guess, it seemed that the black villain that had previously appeared to be one of the three leaders of this whole attack, was the one who had been demolishing his teammates. Going by the size of the thing, it was minutely larger than All Might himself, with crimson veins webbing across its bulky, tar-black skin. It had its own brain exposed, with a beak for a mouth, but the moment Izuku saw its eyes, was the moment he realised that it couldn't be human. They were thoughtless. Dull, yet manic, as though the creature had been given one task; _kill, kill_ **_kill._ **Once again, the creature launched itself at them, but thankfully (but still worryingly) Riu from where they were fighting, was barely managing to remain an inch away from every attack, but was constantly put on the back-foot and forced to dodge as no openings were presented for him to counterattack despite the beast's sloppy form. It was simply too strong and too quick in raw power, and experience was the only thing keeping Riu from being easily killed.

Surprising Izuku and everyone else watching from the sideline, the Lucario spoke up gruffly as he ducked beneath another dozen swings, **"Zephyr. Have you recovered enough to use one final Overheat? Melt this thing to the bone."** Riu's voice was strained, barely managing to remain 'calm' between the heavy attacks launched at him. Not once did the blue Pokémon relent it's heart-piercing, unblinking glare, as he knew that blinking a single time would result in getting hit by what could only be compared to a speeding train. The 'fight' -if it could even be called that- so far had been nothing but several minutes of silent brutality to all those watching, and hope was beginning to dissipate in the face of the seemingly invincible creature. ****

The fire Pokémon nodded in understanding, already bringing forth whatever flame it had left in it's reserve for one final release -clearly with the intent to end this all. He knew that the power output would have to outmatch the creature's regenerative abilities, which was already asking for previously unthinkable amounts for his last evolution, Charmeleon, but now...

Now, he'd do everything he could to finish this, or it'd all be over and in the end all for nothing. Overheat was the most powerful fire-type move Zeph could use, but came at extreme costs to both his special attack stat, as well as by raising his body temperature to over 2000*C. It was a trump card; a last resort. Only to be used once before he'd indefinitely be out of commission...

And yet none of that mattered after everything he had seen.

"Zephyr, catch!" he glanced at Izuku, who had thrown an orb to him. It took him only a second to realise what the boy was doing. "Mega evolution, Charizard Y, _burn that thing to a crisp!"_

He roared as the transformation took place, his leathery skin growing as his wings formed sharp, jagged edges and spear-like appendages grew from his head and elbows. "Char-i-zard! _'_ _I'm ready! Bring it over here and escape the vicinity'!"_ Zeph roared as the very air surrounding him began to simmer, wavering and glowing almost as though the air were about to set on fire itself.

Just as asked, the Lucario drew the thoughtless Nomu straight towards the dragon, escaping only milliseconds before the heat truly erupted from the Charizard's leathery hide. Flames that glowed like magma danced and circled around him as the Nomu was stuck to the spot, the temperature so intense that its own muscles had began to melt beneath its skin, which was beginning to boil and bubble.

The thing was screeching, a horrible tune that sounded akin to a demonic raven screeching melodies from the pits of hell. It's eyes popped as its tongue shrivelled, and if no-one could bare to watch those, then it was unimaginable to describe what happened to its exposed brain matter.

After several minutes of relentless fire rivalled only by the pits of Tartarus (-the mythological hell of _hell itself),_ everything finally died down. Students at the top of the stairs by the entrance could feel the heated air easily despite the hundred meters distance between, and just as the last parts of the creature were cindered to ash, Zeph collapsed, unconscious, as the other villains practically screeched among themselves.

Suddenly, the blackened corpse began to warp as skin re-knitted itself back together. Raw muscles converged over bone, rolling across its body gruesomely and unnaturally, until eventually after a minute or so and to the sheer disbelief of everybody, the Nomu stood before them all perfectly healthy once again, pricked and maniacal eyes focussed on the boy and Pokémon before it.

"You see, Nomu's tricky like that..." Shigaraki cackled with a maniacal grin plastered on his pale, cracked lips. "But this has gone on long enough... _Nomu. **Kill the kid."** _in a single rush, the Nomu launched forward, aiming its supersonic body at the frozen boy, but instead of hitting its intended target, it collided with Tor who stood firm, but shockingly, the tortoise-like Pokémon was sent completely skidding backwards, knocked unconscious from that single merciless attack that would have crushed anyone else's head upon impact. From this demonstration alone, it seemed as though until this point, the beast had hardly been using its full power, merely toying with its 'playthings' like a child would pick at their vegetables in disinterest.

"TOR! NO!" Izuku screamed from the ground, as the Nomu raised its fist in dumb confusion, seemingly because it wasn't smeared with blood like it expected. The shockwave of the punch alone created a tidal wave a distance away in the flood zone, and trees all around were shaken with the force of several tornados.

_'Tor is unconscious, Zeph used up everything in him in that last attack, Bui is out saving our other classmates and wouldn't be a good match-up against this thing regardless, and Ahri is still missing with Volt protecting our classmates from that warp-villain. all the way behind us.'_ his eyes cast backwards towards the swirling black and electricity flashing beyond the staircase, as well as what he presumed were Kacchan's explosions. _'Riu's already been tirelessly fighting off those waves of smaller criminals alongside Aizawa-sensei, who I have no idea where is... What else can we do to beat this thing?!'_ Izuku panicked as the Nomu locked its gaze on him once again, clearly intending to kill its target this time.

Only one idea came to mind, but Izuku didn't have time to doubt it nor think of another, as the Nomu was already searching for him among the rubble and rain. A small distance away, Izuku saw Riu crouched low. "RIU! _DO YOU TRUST ME?!"_ he screamed over the torrential wave that crashed against the shore. The Nomu looked hardly worse for wear than it did when the villains first arrived, which only served to demoralise everyone standing on the sidelines, having no ability to act; only watch as their classmate and Pokémon took on the most abhorrent monster imaginable, which was rivalled only by All Might in raw power.

It was as though they were watching titans- no, _Gods_ clashing, like wakes in the wind of hurricanes. They had each tried their best to do their part so far, be it in rescuing their friends or in taking down more of the small fry criminals, but not one of them had the confidence to stand head-to-head with that beast like Midoriya and his team repeatedly did.

And for that, even Todoroki and especially Bakugou had to swallow their pride with respect as they tried to deal with the warp-gate creator, Kurogiri, instead, who had appeared in an attempt to split the gathered students up once again. Iida had escaped with help earlier, in an attempt to try and reach the school and bring back the other teachers as reinforcements, and Bakugou had just managed to trap the mist-villain by working out where his 'body' was, but now all the students could do was watch and nurse their two teachers, Aizawa-sensei and 13, who had both been gravely injured battling before Midoriya had arrived.

_"Of course I-*cough*-trust you!"_ the Lucario's speech was interrupted by a strenuous hack as blood congealed on his paw, hardening his eyes. He pulled up his battle-ready stance once more, necessarily awaiting any form of surprise attack -because he knew that if he didn't, he wouldn't stand a chance of surviving another few attacks like that.

Suddenly, the Lucario snapped out his paw reflexively, catching something thrown at him in his peripherals. The moment his eyes made contact with the object, they twitched in instant detest. "NO!"

"It's the only wa-!"

"I SAID **NO!** I'M NOT _DOING_ THAT AGAIN, DAMNIT!" the Pokémon semi-screamed as he clenched the orb, hoping in some ways it would be crushed then and there but refraining if only due to some muffled voice of reason within his head.

_"Please..."_

That single word alone, whispered across the defining noise surrounding them, was enough to bring the attention of his friend, as Riu glanced over to the boy, faltering in his defiance from the way it was ~~said~~ _begged_ of him.

His eyes locked with water-filled verdant eyes, burning with passion and honesty as they stared right back. "Please, Riu, _trust me!"_

B-but... _"B-but I don't want to become t-that monster! I'll have no control over who I attack, it could be the Nomu, or it could be YOU! I-I'm not doing that!"_ he growled.

"You won't! I promise! Believe in yourself, Riu, and believe in me, too! I promise, you won't, because I'll link with you and we'll fight this beast together! I won't _let_ you go feral, I swear! Because I'll be with you! _It's the only way..._ " until now, never had the boy's eyes burned with such fire. All the Pokémon could do was shiver under the intensity directed towards him. He'd never felt so scared in his life, and yet beneath it all, some primal instinct somewhere, was telling him to _**believe in his trainer. His friend.**_

Swallowing every fear he held, he gripped the Lucarionite just that little bit tighter as he silently nodded towards the boy, placing every ounce of faith within him.

Within a single moment, with the black monstrosity launching towards them under the order of its own 'master', **everything washed in red.**

* * *

_Wh-what was this ominous feeling? This... t-this_ pulsating _in his chest, erratic and unstable...?_

Katsuki choked on the air within his lungs as he trembled from the overwhelming presence before him, mind frozen like ice as his eyes registered nothing but _fear_ of what stood before him. His mind told him for the first time in his life and with no regret or indecision; _R_ _un. Don't fight, just run and don't look back,_ when he had first seen the true power of the Nomu.

But now, in comparison to _this_ , that felt like _nothing._ This immeasurable feeling of terror... _Welling up inside him._ It brought him to his metaphorical knees.

For the first time, Bakugou looked at Midoriya in fear. His feet were rooted to the ground as though encased by solidified quicksand, as he along with all of their classmates watched as the boy's last standing Pokémon became a completely different beast of their own.

_Its eyes glowed an inhumane, bloodcurdling red._

* * *

Merging together, his first thoughts were of _murder,_ Izuku realised, having barely managed to tear his own will free from the Mega-evolved Lucario's overpowering bloodlust as his seething, merciless wrath sought nothing but destruction. He instinctively wanted to scream, yet he was trapped in a body that refused to listen to him.

'Lucario, listen to my voice, you have to sn-'

 **'SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU HUMAN BASTARD! THE MOMENT I'M FREE, _I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!'_** the words alone drove stakes into the boy's heart as his closest companion's voice was used by whatever it was that possessed him.

'My best friend would never say that...'

 **'I AM NOT YOUR** _ **FRIEND!**_ **YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SLAVE-DRIVER WHO USES US POKÉMON LIKE TOOLS!** _ **YOU TRAINERS ARE ALL THE SAME!'**_ without warning, countless visions of battered at Izuku's mind as his mental barrier was shattered, the Lucario suppressing and tearing his very own aura within their shared body. The sights themselves almost drove Izuku insane within a single second, but despite the agonising torture he was enduring, through all the begging sobs wracking his throat, past all the tears that stained his face swollen as he stared at the wild Lucario within their shared mindscape; he whispered a single word, drowned silent and breathless yet catching all the same.

_'Riu, where are you?'_

And then it all stopped. The storm surrounding him came to a halt, silenced.

Izuku found himself keeled over, clutching his churning stomach as leaves bristled in the light gusts that blew through a single tree beside him. Tearing his eyes open, he found himself surrounded by nothing but clouds, isolated on a single island of grass and flowers with nothing but the tree, and-

And someone silently screaming on the other side. Begging, _pleading_ for 'himself to stop'. Voice hoarse and but a whisper, yet carrying through the wind as thought reinforced by a thousand-man army's yell.

_'No... No- NO! DON'T HURT HIM! DON'T HURT IZUKU-!' the deafeningly quiet, unrecognisably young voice quivered._

_It took every ounce of his strength just to stand; twice as much to push himself forward, but eventually Izuku reached the tree in a few shuffled steps, before involuntarily collapsing against one side of the trunk and sliding around it from gravity's pull alone, uncontrolled and unstable, falling to the ground painfully with futile resistance._

Leaves cascaded throughout the air, each following their own unpredictable, mesmerising paths as his bleary eyes opened. They met with crystal blue that shone like sapphires, surrounded by water like a lake.

They were tears, Izuku realised. Filled to the brim and about to burst, as the small, innocent creature gasped in disbelief, before reaching a shaky paw out as though to touch him; to check if he really was there.

_"I-Izuku...?" his eyes only seemed to fill further as the boy tried his best to smile through all the pain. His expression must have been shaky and unreassuring, but it seemed to work, as the Riolu smiled too, wet and wobbly -nothing Izuku would have imagined him capable of (which made him feel foolish, now that he thought about it, regardless of how stoic the other was or not)._

"Wh- where are we...?" Izuku managed to squeeze out, before hacking. It felt as though his body was being torn apart mercilessly from what the Mega-Lucario was doing to his aura within their shared body.

"We're.... W-we're in a place only P-Pokémon s-should be able to go... An extension of the subconscious... _How did you g-get here?"_

"I'm as- clueless as you are... Though your evolved side- is definitely giving me- a beating... hehe..." Izuku chuckled weakly, words littered with coughs. It felt as though he had quite physically wrestled a carnivorous dinosaur and been promptly crushed and mauled, as unique of an example he found it. "Why are you a Riolu?"

The Pokémon dropped its gaze to the grass beneath it, "Because this is... h-how I see myself _inside_. _Just a child, powerless to do anything when it truly matters..."_

"That's not true at all." Izuku went to go hug him, but was stopped by a chest-heaving splutter. He made a mental note to remember that having his aura dismantled as violently as it was by the Mega-Lucario was not an experience he ever wanted to repeat, as it was beginning to feel as though his very life was being ripped and pummelled from his body.

The Riolu panicked, unsure of what to do, "I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I-I can't c-control it... I d-don't even think that way at a-all! I don't want you to die! I don't u-understand why... W-why I'm s-so filled with _rage-"_ the Riolu stiffened as he felt arms warp around him, hugging him tight and refusing to release him, cutting him off and ending his internal despair.

"Riu... _I'm here."_

In that single moment, just that gesture alone was enough to calm the raging storm they were both experiencing, as the deafening white-noise ringing in their ears died down noticeably along with the gusts whistling in the tree they knelt beneath.

Opening both of their eyes simultaneously, their sharp glare was already trained on the monster before them, just as pathologically empty as before. Brain exposed, tongue lolling and eyes bulging, the monster charged, but every punch it threw was avoided smoothly by millimetres. They flowed like water around its attacks, dodging and flipping under its meteor-like strikes which left craters in the concrete, taking small steps to avoid the largest of punches. It seemed like they were moving faster than light itself as there was only blur of their movement; only appearance and disappearance as the Nomu flailed its gargantuan mass around, now seeming _slow_ in comparison to all those watching from the sidelines. At one point, the fused pair even felt the confidence to squat upon the monster's extended fist, before it tried to grasp them.

Ducking beneath a wide swing.

Waiting.

Hopping over a crater-creating floor-smash.

Waiting.

Leaning an inch left as a fist sailed past their face.

_Opportunity._

The moment they actually struck back, thick clouds of accumulated dusty smoke settled as the two opponents stood facing back-to-back, unmoving, with the Nomu hunched over in what had been an attempt to grab them, and the fused Lucario simply standing rigid, as blood dripped onto the ground below from its spikes.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_-Thump._

Behind them, the Nomu collapsed to the ground, head crooked and neck snapped so far from its spine that it looked like a tail.

But just as everyone watching believed that it was all over, an audible _*snap*_ was heard as a single joint popped back into place, followed by several echoing _*cracks*_ as the abomination's head retracted to it's original position, and slowly but surely the previously non-twitching, motionless creature pulled itself up again.

"Hehe, Isn't it obvious?" the bratty man-child Tomura sneered, having recovered his bravado exceptionally well despite the fear presented by the Lucario's shocking strength -which in and of itself, seemed impossible to think about as Nomu was created to beat All Might, _the strongest being on the planet!_ "Nomu has been biologically engineered to defeat _All Might._ What makes you think you can take it on despite how many times you've already failed now? Other than the fact that you're somehow stronger and faster than it, no matter what you'll never win this unless you erase every fraction of every molecule of him from existence!"

_Again._

_And again._

_**And again.** _

No matter how many times they defeated it, it would just regenerate to perfect health once more. By this stage, it was no match physically for the combat-proficient Mega-Lucario, driven by its most innate, primal instincts, reinforced by it's mastery of martial arts, and tamed in its fusion state. Yet the monster still refused to lose. One time, the beast had managed to get a solid hit in, aimed straight to their chest, and had then not blocked it with both arms in the nick-of-time, there was no disillusion that they would have many broken ribs. After all, despite their clear advantage in offence and speed, Lucario as a species were a _relatively(*)_ less sturdy Pokémon in regards to how much damage they could naturally take -the only thing salvaging the mediocre health and defence stats from being _awful_ being their secondary Steel-typing, which bumped them to just above average for a Pokémon.

Of course, you still couldn't forget that Pokémon were naturally stronger than humans regardless, as despite their vitality stats being only average, Lucarios' bones are made out of metal.

In comparison, the Nomu was indefinitely superior in its vitality and defence, as it proved to be nigh-indestructible so far, not only standing practically unfazed by blunt attacks (which is why they resorted to using their sharp spikes to cut it instead), but also regenerating any fatal injury seemingly endlessly, hardly taking a noticeable toll on its stamina.

It's much like old saying of 'the unstoppable force against the immovable object' -except, the fused Lucario retorted, _'the object may be immovable, but is it unbreakable in that scenario as the Nomu is in this one?'_ which put them at a clear disadvantage...

After the fourth time of the creature regenerating its eviscerated limbs (and in the most recent, less merciful attack, organs), the Lucario had had enough of playing safe and cautious. Just as it began snapping its broken body back into shape, they began powering up a Focus-Punch, a devastating attack and the strongest Fighting Type attack entirely, but one which took a long time to charge up, and would fail if the user took any damage during it.

Before the beast could fully regain its strength, the Lucario projected its voice all the way towards the crowd of students by the staircase who had been watching the fight at a distance for their safety as they knew they were all outmatched by the Nomu. **_"TODOROKI, FREEZE IT NOW!"_**

The dichromatic boy seemed startled that he was called -if only for a second- before he instantly understood and planted his right foot on the ground, allowing shards of his ice quirk to erupt towards the Nomu, flash-freezing it in a literal glacier.

It only took it a few seconds to break out from its encasement, but that was all they needed to finally launch their aura-infused fist at the abomination faster than a flash of light. The moment their punch connected, its torso erupted in blinding light, physically imploding under the pressure, before it was sent soaring like a missile towards the edge of the USJ's thick, reinforced dome.

All that remained was a hole the size of a truck, as the Lucario stood there, fist still extended and leaning far forward, steaming. The students, despite the remaining uneasiness from how wild the Pokémon had seemed earlier, began cheering in relief as they were seemingly truly saved this time.

"Kurogiri, you useless trash heap! Why didn't you save Nomu?!" Shigaraki screeched as though exempt from taking any responsibility.

"Forgive me, I was preoccupied with others and momentarily caught, I had no idea what was going on down there. I suggest we escape from here now Tomura, or we may not be able to..." his attention travelled to the Lucario and the boy, who had just 'unfused' mere moments ago as their biological super-weapon was being eradicated.

 _"You..."_ teeth audibly ground as the leader ground his teeth, eyes flailing wildly as he focussed on the boy that ruined _everything._ "Y-you cheated. YOU GOD DA-" Izuku was unable to hold his eyes open any longer to hear the villain finish, finally succumbing to the awaiting arms of unconsciousness as his mind lay to rest after judging the main threat presented as permanently defeated. What he didn't know, was that just as the villain was about to charge at him and kill him mercilessly, many of his classmates leaped down, intercepting the two sides and blocking their friend from view of the villains.

"What Midoriya did... You guys all saw how much that power must have messed with him... Yet he did it anyway to protect us all!" Kirishima yelled lowly as his fists hardened like rock, standing like an immovable fortress in front of the unconscious boy and Lucario. "So now it's time _we all pick up the slack!"_

Bakugou stepped up beside the redhead, eternal death-frown now once-again present as his palms crackled like fireworks. He was pissed that the warp-gate villain had escaped him with a diversion mere moments ago, but that didn't mean he planned to leave it at that as his palms crackled and popped. It didn't help that Deku had taken the spotlight, so he had to regain his pride, and he was followed by Todoroki, who's right arm frosted the very air around it. Despite the innate terror the fusion had made the two feel, they were still some of the strongest of the class, and that alone was enough to remind them of their place up front (which, arrogant or not, was still undoubtably respectable and courageous).

As they all stood firm with growing confidence beside each other, others began to join, slowly forming a protective wall around the boy and his other unconscious, overexerted Pokémon gathered from nearby. There were of course still students remaining at the top of the staircase, heavily guarding their broken teachers as the last line of defence,, but for the most part, they now felt they had the villains on the back-foot as the trump card they were relying on had been defeated.

"Damnit damnit _damnit damnit DAMNIT!_ No All Might, yet these _brats_ decided to cheat and beat us at our own game anyway? _What is this?! This boss fight SUCKS!"_ he screamed like a toddler losing at chess, not understanding anything that was occurring, let alone _why_ his 'flawless' plan was failing so miserably.

"Tomura. I believe it really is time we must leave! If we do not, the heroes will arrive any second now!"

Ash blue hair overshadowed a sadistic, warped face filled with malice. _"Him. **Bring him with us."** _he ground out, barely above a whisper as Kurogiri's eyes narrowed, understanding the request but unsure of how to execute it. The boy was too heavily guarded... simply warping him would not work anymore, as the students all now knew of his tricks and were specifically looking out to avoid them from earlier.

But just before he could think any further on it, the entrance doors leading the to USJ exploded on their hinges, rocketing like meteors across the colossal building.

 **"Fear not, students, for _I a_ m here!" **a very familiar voice thundered across the entire dome building, resonating with a sound echo as though to accentuate his power.

 _"All Might..."_ Tomura snarled rabildy, already wishing to tear loose at the so called 'hero'.

Kurogiri whispered "We can get the boy next time, Tomura. _Let's go."_ and receiving a reluctant nod, the pair disappeared in a storm of mist.

Just as the air settled around them all, a high-pitched, overly cheery voice piped up from behind All Might, as everyone looked to see a small rodent waring a suit approach, followed by the rest of the school-board staff members. "Don't worry, everyone! We're here, so let the us handle the rest and let's get all of you outside and checked for injuries!" Principle Nedzu took control of the situation, as several of the dozen teachers split off in search of the remaining few students still missing. There were hardly any small-fry villains still conscious, but there were still some, which meant that they couldn't all relax and let their guards down just yet.

But the kids didn't need to stress over that, and so Nedzu led them all out to see Recovery girl and the ambulances that turned up shortly after. His worried eyes cast over the boy and Pokémon of his extreme interest as they narrowed, already thinking about what could be done to bolster the school's defences in preparation for whatever cam next of this clearly well-organised terrorist group that had just attacked children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me an entire week of just writing small parts of this chapter and stitching them together, so I apologise if there are any problems or mistakes but I've tried to make it all smooth.


	13. Interlude of Fluff

Red eyes narrowed as the viridescent-haired annoyance hugged him tighter. He released a low, suppressed growl, but only received a startling thwack to his muzzle in response from a passing Pikachu, serving to anger him further.

"Oh just let him be, Riu. After all that he's been through, as well as what he did for you, the least you could do is let him rest." the electrified mouse retorted, walking past carrying one of Mrs Midoriya's delectable fruit smoothies and jumping up to settle on an adjacent sofa.

"But why did he need to fall asleep on _me?"_ the Lucario inquired sarcastically, momentarily considering pushing the boy off, but instantly feeling guilty for the thought.

In actual fact, did he think it was bad? _Not really._ So why did he feel such a need to keep up the pretence...?

"It's not _that bad._ Besides-"

"You just don't want to admit that you secretly like it." Zeph cut in cheekily from in the hallway, immediately retreating with a cackle at Riu's fire-fuelled gaze.

"I'm going to kill him. _I'm actually going to kill him."_ he muttered, only restraining as to not wake Izuku.

The Pikachu took a sip from his drink, "It's not like he's _wrong...."_ instinctively he ducked, and just in time as only milliseconds later, the tv remote was sent on a rocket's trajectory aiming to decapitate him.

Tor, sleeping a little distance away by himself, snorted lightly to himself, much to the increasing distaste of the Lucario.

"I hate you all..."

"What about me?!" Ahri's voice piped up as she seemingly erupted from between the couch cushions, almost giving both the Lucario and Pikachu a heart-attack each.

He grunted, grumbling underneath his breath _'_ _I can't stay mad at you.'_ "No, Ahri, I don't hate you-"

"YAAAY!" the ball of fluff and fur collided into his chest, knocking the wind from him and instantly making him regret his words.

Volt was hardly stopping himself from bursting into laughter, which was an immediate sign for suspicion. "What? Why are you laughing now, hamster?!"

He would have taken more offence if he wasn't rolling on his back in tears, "You- Y-you're face! Whe- _*wheeze*_ When Ahri leapt at you, your face just did this-" he mimicked a startled fish, "And the first thing you did was stop her from hitting Izuku on your lap! You didn't even THINK about it, I could tell! Just reflexively curled around him." he couldn't stop himself any longer, erupting into peals of laughter as the Lucario's paws clenched with the strength to strangle iron. _"And you pretend to not enjoy **this**." _he gestured to the two on the sofa.

Slowly, Izuku began to rouse on his lap from all the noise, and without thinking the Lucario held the boy down gently and overshadowed his sight with an arm. The moment Izuku cracked his eyes open, he muttered sleepily "Huh, still... dark out... guess I'll... _sleep... more..."_ and like that, the boy was fast asleep once again.

Just as he raised his warm gaze, it fell as fast as it came at the sight of the Pikachu's puffed cheeks and bitten lips, comments bound to annoy him further clearly hanging on his tongue. "Not. A. _Word."_

Recognising the threat as more serious than any previous, Volt thought it best to preserve his health by (-still biting his lip shut to stop an outburst) silently removing himself from the vicinity. The moment he left the room, howls of laughter could be heard next-door, but Riu simply ignored it in favour of looking back down at the boy's face resting on his lap peacefully.

Izuku's peaceful expression seemed to spread, as he soon found himself feeling as tranquil and happy as the boy looked to be. He blinked, pulling himself from his confusing stupor, when a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"You really do care for him that way, huh?" Tor stated quietly. His voice always had the effect of sounding aged and experienced, despite him not being noticeably older than the rest of them, which at least stopped the Lucario from getting mad like he would do at any other asking that question.

"Hmph." he grunted, eyes still trained on the fluffy virescent hair beneath him. "Wouldn't work, so I don't think about that. We aren't human. We're only a figment of his quirk, in the end."

"..." the Torterra remained silent for the next few hours, which Riu was thankful for as the direction the conversation had been heading wasn't one he wanted to pursue. When Tor did finally get up from the large patch of floorspace he'd been occupying, he shook himself a little, rustling the leaves in his shell's tree, before he began walking away slowly.

"Izuku doesn't treat us as animals, pets _or_ tools like most others would... _You know that."_ and with that, the room fell silent once more, leaving the blue and black furred, bipedal canine to brood in thought.


	14. Preparation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little update today, but it was fuelled on happiness since yesterday I got my GCSE results and managed to achieve what I aimed for which is incredible! 😊

Walking back into class the next weekend -as though nothing had happened, which was strange enough in itself- was proven somehow more shocking, by the unthinkable sight of Aizawa-sensei still standing. The last Izuku had seen of his teacher before he was taken by recovery girl, was that he was a mangled mess.

He didn't stop blaming himself for not reaching his teacher to help sooner, but from the glares he kept receiving from the man, it seemed he wanted him to stop feeling guilty, so Izuku tried.

But anyway, that's besides the point, as right upon entering the classroom, Izuku's eyes met with the teacher's stoic, lazy gaze, before he scanned the man. He was now covered from head to literal toe in casts, with a large gauze wrap around his head which covered one eye which must have been injured from the fight.

How the teacher was still on his feet, especially taking into account how exhausted and sleep-deprived he usually is anyway, is a miracle, but despite the rest of his classmates being just as shocked as he was, they were all already sitting in their seats, which he immediately copied as they all knew from experience that the man held no patience for starting homeroom, no matter what the situation was. The world could be burning, and he'd still time them on how quickly they reached their seats.

Sitting down promptly, the teacher gave him another glance, before his eyes traced towards Izuku's Pokétch. It seemed he was indicating for him to take out his Pokémon, which Izuku cocked an eyebrow at, but the teacher confirmed his assumption when he nodded.

Following his request, all six of his Pokémon erupted in red lightning bolts from his watch and crowded around him silently in question, as Aizawa began.

"The battle's far from over-" as he said this, the entire class tensed, assuming the man was talking about the league of villains and possibly insinuating that they were back again already, but he cut off all those about to speak, "The sports festival is near."

Immediately, the class blinked unanimously as they relaxed back into their seats, before they finally processed what he said.

"Wait a minute, that's soon?!"

"But why would UA still hold it after what happened at the USJ, surely they haven't forgotten that villains attacked us all!"

Aizawa cut them all off once more, "Principle Nedzu believes it would be a good idea to show that we aren't easily daunted by such actions. By holding the festival still, it demonstrates that we as a school are unphased by the villain attack, and that we still hold control in the public's eye. Besides, it's the most prominent televised competition in the world. The Olympics' viewership is minuscule in comparison to UA's sports festival, so to not hold it would affect the support and high opinions we uphold within the general public and media."

The class gave out resounding 'Ohhhh's' at the reasoning.

Suddenly, the momentary silence was breached by a lone voice, _"What's this 'sports festival' about?"_

All eyes wheeled towards the Lucario, who had telepathically echoed his question. Whilst it did make sense that the Pokémon wouldn't know, they were still somewhat shocked by that realisation, as it seemed almost absurd for anyone to not know. After all, it was the most well renowned event throughout quite literally the entire world.

Aizawa inhaled lightly before answering, "Simply put, all UA students of every class in every department are pitted against each other between their respective years in several competitive events. Each event is randomised, with an aim to whittle down a portion of the remaining competitors each time, until finally at the end of the day you are left with a victor. The strongest hero-trainee of the year." he looked towards the Pokémon, but blinked at their unanimously blank faces.

"...aaaaaand this is important... _why...?"_ Volt raised an eyebrow, leaning ever so slightly forward in dampened curiosity. It was actually so jarring to Aizawa that he had to refrain from displaying his surprise, as in all his experience in teaching, he'd never seen a student (technical or not) be so disinterested in this event.

"Well, it's to get televised, isn't it?" Uraraka cut in.

"Indeed, surely it is because of how popular this prestigious event is, that makes it so imperative we do our best! Pros and agencies from all around the world will be watching, which makes this one of the best opportunities to get scouted as a potential sidekick!" Iida snapped his arm robotically as usual, but his point came across making the Pikachu nod in understanding.

"Correct. You only get this opportunity once a year at UA, three times in total throughout your school career here, so it's vital that you all give it your all, otherwise you may find yourself falling behind your classmates should they find opportunities and offers. Displaying your quirks in versatile, useful fashions is one good way to get noticed, but to make it reliable, you should all aim to _win."_ as Aizawa finished, every student within the class steeled their gazes and grit their expressions as the importance of this dawned upon them. All of them were hero to become heroes- some of the best in the world, to be exact, so to display anything other than their best would be shameful to not only their families and friends, but especially themselves after everything they've all worked for.

"So it's like getting a leg-up in the hero world so when we debut, we start off popular and recognised with all the benefits that reaps..." Kirishima finalised, looking at the ceiling with a hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"Exactly. It's in two weeks, so during this time I advise that you all prepare not only physically, but mentally as well. Now that's out of the way-" just as Aizawa began to wrap things up, Present Mic burst through the door charismatically loud as usual.

"IT'S TIME FOR YOUR LESSON IN ENGLISH, LITTLE LISTENERS! NOW, WHO CAN TELL ME THE RHYME OF THE RULE 'e BEFORE i'?" and so began their first lesson of the eventful day, with everyone unable to stop thinking about the competition that lay ahead.


	15. War Declarations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long this took for me to get up, I hope the length makes up for it! Been dealing with my first week of college after all this covid crisis and so have had quite a lot of work cut out for me, but it's been great to finally get back to something mentally stimulating after 6 months of vegetating in my room 😂🤣

"Wh-what's going on?" Ochaco blinked owlishly before the crowd of students within the hallway, all staring into the class without restraint to their scrutinising gazes.

Izuku, who was standing by the window across the room, found himself startled into hiding behind a stalwart Riu, trying not to freak out at the dozens of gazes that primarily picked him and his team out -undoubtedly due to how much six unnatural-looking creatures stand out in a crowd.

 _ **'** This probably isn't the time to be hiding, Izuku. You'll look like a weaker target.' _Riu encouraged him, but it was difficult for the boy to build up the nerve when he could feel enough piercing gazes on his hair alone -since regrettably, he _was_ still peeking out over Lucario's shoulder.

"What business do you have with Class A? We do not appreciate you all swarming us at the end of the day; many of us wish to go home." Iida pointedly stated, but to no avail as the best reaction given was a few students shifting on their feet but everyone still remained.

Meanwhile, Mineta was having a similar reaction to Izuku, as he muttered in worry, "We can't get out, what's with this?!' to himself. Surprisingly, however, Bakugou responded as he strutted past casually.

"They're scouting out the enemy, _small fry._ We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack -they probably want to check us out before the sports festival." he muttered flatly, surprising most students as it was rare to ever hear the boy 'say' anything below one-hundred decibels.

The boy soon came to a stop before the sea of differing hair and height. "There's no point in doing stuff like that." he gave a second before immediately losing his patience and raising his voice, "Get out of my way, extras!"

Iida instantly went to admonish Bakugou for calling strangers 'extras' unnecessarily, however a single voice cut through the hushed whispers, a single voice carried itself boldly yet calmly.

"I came to see what the _famous Class A_ was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this?"

His words visibly got underneath Katsuki's skin, who narrowed his eyes, whilst the ground of students behind him tried to laugh off the situation and assure the purple-haired stranger that his assumption wasn't true, but he wasn't having any of it, refusing to let anyone else speak.

"There are quite a few people who enrolled at UA for the general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course. Did you know that? The school has left those of us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider our transfer into the hero course. Of course.... that also means that they'll transfer people _out."_

He shifted his glance to each student individually as what felt like a quick eternity played out. "I'm not here to scout out the enemy... I'm here to give you all a warning:

If you aren't careful, I'll swipe your feet out from beneath you.

This is not just a threat, _it's a declaration of war."_ and like that, the boy walked away through the silently shifting crowd, leaving everyone present shocked into silence.

As he left, at the back of the class Izuku gulped as a dawn of realisation hit him. He'd never even considered that he could lose his spot from anything other than expulsion, and knowing that so many students would be fighting tooth and nail to beat not only the hero course, but _his class especially,_ the gravity of the situation truly made its mark.

_'Now isn't the time for any of us to take it easy. What that boy said seems to be what all those other students were thinking as well, and that just solidifies it. If we want to retain our spot here in this class, we're gonna have to go far beyond anything I first expected...'_

All six Pokémon noticed Izuku's pensive look and glanced between themselves, whilst the rest of their class all complained amongst themselves about Bakugou having made enemies of the class out of everyone present.

* * *

Within the two weeks of preparation that they had, it was obvious that everyone in their class had been giving their all in training. Many had worked together to train, such as Ochaco, Mina and Aoyama in the rubble-zone of the USJ, with Ochaco practiced lengthening her anti-gravity on rocks and boulders as the others improved their aim with their quirks. Sero and Ojiro spent time improving their mobility when traversing terrain with their quirks, and Kirishima, Yaomomo, Bakugou and Todoroki all trained by themselves until they couldn't keep standing.

All the while, Izuku and his team had spent most of their free time at home. A while back, each Pokémon had politely asked for a space to call their own. Outside, half of the empty, fenced lawn had been transformed into a small rock garden (called a karensansui, and also known as a 'zen garden'), which Lucario tended to and meditated in every day, balancing precariously upon rocks and formations as he honed his aura skills further. In the meantime, Torterra slept blissfully beneath the cherry blossom tree in the centre. A small furnace built upon some slabs was created for Charizard to lounge by, fueling it with his fire and bathing in the 'glorious' (volcanic to the others) heat. Between those two areas, was a large pool that conformed to the swirling edge of the rock-garden, built for Buizel. It was large and creative in its design, with lots of room for plenty of people to swim in, and even had a long lane for Bui to practice his fifty-metre swimming sprint.

In contrast to all that, however, both Eevee and Pikachu requested far more simple things indoors. Ahri asked for a large beanbag cushion, whereas Volt requested a custom-made controller for playing video-games, as that was ironically one of his favourite downtimes.

Of course, after all of this, Inko was left a 'little' strapped for money -actually sporting a very large debt to bank loans, but refusing to deny her technical children what they needed to enjoy themselves. She knew that she'd likely be working at least a few years into retirement to pay it all off -if Izuku somehow didn't make it big as an incredible hero, which she doubted knowing her incredible son and companions. However what shocked her most, was when she found out that her previous loans had been mysteriously payed off by someone named 'Nezu'. She had no idea who that was, and struggled to comprehend why they'd done it, but there wasn't any contact left for her to give back the money to, so in the end she was forced to accept the incredible kind act of charity, without telling her son the truth about it.

She was just glad that her kids were living happily, and as she looked out from the kitchen to the garden, watching them all train or rest in preparation of the upcoming festival, she felt a proud, watery smile grow broadly on her face.

_'Good luck, Izu. No matter what, I know you will do me proud!'_

* * *

Here they were. The entire class sat in anticipation within the waiting rooms, left to their own devices and trying to mentally prepare one-way or another. There were only minutes left before they'd all have to reveal themselves to the cameras and the crowd, so the air was tense and atmosphere thick.

Iida was the only one to ever break the silence, announcing 'Everyone be prepared, we will be entering soon!', but apart from that, silence retained. Students glanced between each other, with many of them looking towards Izuku and his Pokémon, who were keeping to themselves in the corner of the room, when Todoroki abruptly caught everyone's alert attention as he walked up to Midoriya, ignoring his group that surrounded him protectively.

_"Midoriya."_

The boy glanced up, the last one to notice the other's presence, whilst the other student all listened in with interest -even Bakugou sparing a wary scowl. "Todoroki-kun? What is it?"

Without breaking eye-contact, the dichromatic boy continued, "Looking at it objectively, _I am stronger than you."_ this statement instantly earned him scowls and frowns between not only the group, but the class as well, with only a select few remaining neutral and minding their own business.

_"-What is Todoroki doing?"_

_"Is he looking to start a fight?"_

He then continued, not allowing Izuku to defend himself, "Of course, that's not including your _friends."_ the last word was scathing, shocking them all, before finishing with _"But I'm still going to beat you."_ Without another word, he walked away, ignoring the rest of the class and their worried mutterings.

Just as Riu was about to speak up in defence of his trainer and friend, the boy spoke up for himself with a clear-cut tone and an overshadowed face.

"Todoroki."

The boy stopped in place, but didn't look back.

"I don't know what you're thinking when you say you'll _beat me_... But of course I realise that without my Pokémon, I'd be useless against _any one of you here."_

The class stared in silent shock at the depreciative statement the strongest boy in class made, but he continued.

"Truthfully, I think you're more capable than most people... But... I'm not here to panic over your threats. We all heard just how many rivals our class has in this festival anyway.... I know that I'm the weakest link within my own team and that I can't afford to fall behind. However in the end, we're all here to become the best heroes we can be, so I'll be going for it with everything I have. _Every breath, every second, until I pass out or win.-"_

 _"-So long as you think you can match me on those standards, then fine, **I accept your challenge.** " _and with that, there was nothing left to say as they all left the room and made their way to the exits.

Throughout it all, however, Katsuki silently growled to himself, pissed over someone _else_ making threats and war-declarations to Deku.

* * *

Stepping out of the hallway and into the centre of the stadium, blinded by piercing light and deafened by blaring sound, Izuku fell into a steady step alongside his Pokémon and classmates. His heart was hammering at twice the pace of his steps, and he was hunching slightly in a futile attempt to hide away from the thousand-strong crowd.

Present Mic's voice could already easily be heard, somehow impossibly drowning out the drones of the crowd as he did what he was best at:

**"Hey! Attention audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the U.A. sports festival, is about to begin! The huge battle where fledgling heroes sharpen their swords once a year! Everybody , are you ready?! It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!"**

Fireworks erupted in the skies above as the crowd roared in delight.

**"And coming out first, are those the miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel?! Hero course, Class 1-A, right?!"**

Izuku shrunk at least a foot into himself as his previous gathered courage was demolished like a paper wall barraged by catapults. _"Th-th-there a-are so many people..."_ he shivered, feeling is heart thrum and senses dilate from panic and adrenaline.

"Indeed. Will we be able to give our best performance being watched by so many people?" Iida asked with a stern, controlled expression. Then again, this is also just part of the training required to become a hero..." he surmised.

Kirishima, who was walking behind Bakugou, withheld his usual shark-like, yet friendly grin as he muttered, "Man, he's going overboard with that praise! I'm getting nervous! Aren't you Bakugou?"

"You kidding me? _This just makes it all the better for when I win!"_ the other teen glowered with a grin.

_A_ s much as Izuku wanted to hide from the cameras, it seemed impossible to escape the attention as both him and his Pokémon were zoomed in on and shown on the large displays surrounding the entire stadium.

 _'OF COURSE WE'RE STICKING OUT, WHAT COULD MAKE ME HOPE FOR ANYTHING ELSE?!'_ the boy screamed to himself.

 _'You're going to be fine, Izuku. Stop panicking so much, your aura is suffocating.'_ the Lucario placed a reassuring paw on his shoulder, bringing the boy back to his senses. He looked around, realising it was Zephyr who overshadowed him from behind; who gave him a smirk upon eye-contact. Followed by Tor who was on his left, lumbering along but still keeping pace with everyone else. Volt was perched upon his shoulder of course, whereas Ahri had decided to spare him any more added weight and hid on a branch up within Tor's shell-tree. Finally, Bui was on his right, grinning his usual carefree way which further helped relieve his own stress immensely.

**"They haven't been getting as much airtime, but this class is also full of talent! Hero course, class 1-B! Next up are general studies Classes C, D and E! Support course Classes F, G and H are here, too! And finally, business course, Classes I, J and K!**

**All of U.A.'s first-years are here now!**

Izuku gave a silent nod of gratitude towards Riu as he tuned everything else out, including the announcements echoing around them, and the group came to a halt among the rest of their class, standing uniformly as the other classes joined them from other entrances around the stadium, all facing a centre podium set up for Midnight -the pro hero- to speak.

The R-Rated Hero cracked her whip as some parts of the crowd hollered and jeered, however silence soon befell the arena as she began speaking. "First, it's time for the student pledge; representing all students is the one who scored the most points in the entrance exam -and someone who set an all-time record in many years; _Izuku Midoriya!"_

**_Huh?_ **

The verdescent-haired teen blinked blankly, as though the words he had just heard had been dreamt, however a _strong*_ nudge to his arm was enough to direct his attention towards the endless gazes directed at him from not only his own peers, but _every single person within the stadium bleachers._

He felt his throat shrivel like fruit in dry heat, and his entire body went rigid from head to toe as everyone remained where they were, until eventually Volt shocked him gently with a jolt of electricity, which thankfully got his engines spluttering again.

He felt a tug, possibly from another plane of existence, and in the next second, he found himself standing before the crowds upon the same podium that Midnight had occupied. A small microphone standing before him, and no speech prepared for this impromptu moment.

The idea of this moment being not only televised live, but _recorded and uploaded to be viewed by anyone at any time,_ was frankly _beyond petrifying_ , as he quite ironically felt like he had been turned to stone. Seconds ticked by, but just before the first few 'boos' or complaints could be made by the crowd, a certain voice filled his head and supplied him with the scapegoat he needed.

_'Why are you here, Izuku? What were those words you told Todoroki earlier?'_

Responding as though on autopilot, words began forming on his tongue, **"W-we're all here to become the best heroes we can be, so I'll be going for it with everything I have. Everyone is my rival, but everyone here is my friend, t-too, and it's because of that that I know I-I must give this my all! _Every breath, every second, until I pass out or win,_ because I'm sure everyone else here will do the same!"**

He didn't even process the cheers or the clapping. It was only once he found himself comfortingly hidden beneath Tor's sheltering tree and Zephyr's large wings, that Izuku realised his Pokémon had been with him the entire time regardless of whether or not they were on the stage.

 **"What a down-to-earth, inspiring speech that was! If that can't get you all raring to give it your all, then I don't know what could! Ladies and Gentlemen, let's please hear it for not only Izuku Midoriya, but for the entirety of the student body for this spectacular show of sportsmanship!"** Present Mic yelled enthusiastically, cutting off Midnight who visibly twitched in irritation.

 **"Now, let's get started right away."** the woman re-found her pep as she regained the attention of the crowd, who listened on her every word in excitement to get to the action. **"This first event is what you'd call a 'qualifier round', and every year, many dirnk their tears here! Now, let's see which event is rolled!"** ****

Every screen lining the stadium flashed as a colourful wheel spun blearily like a jackpot machine, until eventually after the drum-roll the crowd had started up, it came to a stop on 'OBSTACLE RACE'.

 **"All eleven classes will participate in this race, and the course will be the outer circumference of this stadium -about four kilometres total! As for the rules... Our school's selling point is freedom!"** she licked her lips with a sadistic grin, **_"And so as long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!_ Now, take your places everyone!"**

Readying himself with a slap to the cheeks, Izuku glanced between his companions. They already knew the drill from all their scenario practicing and pre-planning they had been doing lately, and the course of action in situations requiring high speed was for him to re-call Tor and usually Ahri, leaving Volt on his shoulder, and Riu, Zephyr and Bui on the ground. Zephyr was the fastest, especially considering his flight, whilst Riu and Volt were evenly matched with his speed on the ground. Finally, Bui was still undoubtedly fast, but truly shone in water of course. This left them with a perfectly versatile team, of which he could still alter depending on the situation at hand.

This time, however, Izuku decided to change the plan as he saw how crowded the starting tunnel was with the contestants lining up.

"Guys... Change of plans. We shouldn't try to run through them, we'll just lose each other and won't make much ground. Zephyr can fly me over, and since Bui has good ranged attacks and is pretty small and light, he shouldn't impact his flight speed too much by remaining. Volt, you probably won't be too good for this race since we aren't looking to paralyse anyone and you might cause some collateral damage to us anyway with your attacks. Also Riu, whilst you have ranged attacks, it'd be best if you sat this one out I think. Reserve you for when some actual fighting begins if that's okay with you?

'That's fine, Izuku.' he gave a nod, before tapping on his Pokeball and disappearing in a flash of red lightning. Volt also nodded, understanding that this wasn't the kind of situation suited to his electricity, and smiled when Izuku called him into his Pokéball but promised not to leave them in there for long.

Finally, looking to his two remaining Pokémon, he nodded with steeled nerves. "You guys ready?"

They each gave curt, confident nods and called their names in excitement.

"Bui!

"Charizard!"

The dragon Pokémon then lowered himself for both the boy and the sea-weasel to get on, before extending his wings and waiting for the start signal to sound. Contestants all around, but especially those from other departments, all cowered in startled fear of the dragon as he rose with smoke emitting from its snout and a smirk plastered across its face. Everyone eyes the boy who rode it, but Izuku paid them no attention, focusing on the course ahead.

"We've got this, guys! _I know it!"_


	16. Time for a True Test

"If' I'm not mistaken, you've had your eye set on someone lately... have you not, All Might?" Nedzu asked politely, but it was a statement all the same.

The malnourished, ghoulish looking man tilted his head slightly, before taking a deep breath.

"Of course. _It's hard to miss their potential..."_

"Indeed, but what do you plan to do if he refuses?" the small animal sipped from his cup of tea, deliberately taking his time with the conversation.

Toshinori's head fell lower, overcast by a stern, thoughtful expression. "Well, it's not like I disagree that young Mirio is a good candidate himself. Before I first saw what young Midoriya could do, it was looking likely that One for All would go to him..."

"Why is it that you sound so pensive? Is that not a good thing?"

His emaciated, hollow face narrowed in expression. _"You know why I find this hard."_

"I presume it is because Mirio is Sir Nighteye's candidate? I do understand that you two still hold a grudge from those few years ago, but can you both not simply move past it at this point? You know as much as I do, that Nighteye only wished for your safety."

"I'm just not sure yet, Nedzu. But there is one thing I'm fairly certain on..."

"Oh? And what would that be?" a small, devious grin appeared on the rodent's face, barely noticeable.

"Should young Midoriya win this sports festival, I _will_ make the offer to him. By then, it will be up to him to decide, and I suppose depending on his answer I will soon have my future successor between the two of them."

"Excellent. This should be a spectacle, if that's the case." the grin grew on his face, before he poured the two of them another cup of tea, and they continued their conversation on simpler topics.

* * *

**"Let the race, BEGIN!"**

With a sudden start, the sea of contestants all charged forward into the narrow tunnel, funnelling into a mess of trapped bodies and incoordination. People yelled and complained, fighting for the space to breath, but only a select few students avoided this first obstacle, and all of them were from Class 1-A.

"Let's go, guys!" Zephyr took to the air as soon as it started with a powerful flap of his wings, and soon enough the three of them (Bui included) were soaring over the other contestants through the tunnel without any opposition or difficulty.

 **"Okay, here's the play-by-play! Are you ready to do the commentary, mummy-man?"** Present Mic yelled besides a still heavily bandaged Aizawa as they watched from the commentary booth.

 _"Why did I let you drag me here...?"_ the man groaned, before locking his gaze onto the race.

**"Let's get started right away! What should we pay attention to in the early stage?"**

Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "What many of them have realised already, is that the sifting has _already begun._ This is the part where students either get a head-start, or are decommissioned and doomed to come last for the entire race."

Just as he said this, the entire tunnel exploded in a rush of crystal ice, the air paling with chilling frost. Todoroki shot forward from within the front of the crowd, already sliding ahead on his ice as the rest of the student body were left frozen still to the ground.

"--Owww! What the--?

"--It's freezing over! I can't move!--"

"Sorry, _but I'm gonna win this thing."_ the dichromatic haired boy said emotionlessly, without looking back at the havoc he had knowingly caused.

Just as it had happened, Izuku shouted a command to Zephyr, "Quick, Flamethrower directly ahead of us!!!"

As the ice encroached them, building up like an impenetrable wall within the confines of the tunnel, flames erupted from Charizard's maw and licked at the ice, rapidly melting it not just to water, but to steam directly. For a second they were blinded by the evaporation, however the trio thankfully made it through to the other side, and found themselves rocketing ahead alongside Bakugou, Aoyama and Yaoyorozu, who had all launched themselves into the air with their quirks, as well as Kirishima and Asui, who had either avoided the ice somehow, or broken it before they could be slowed too much.

"Nice try, Ice-lolly, but I'm notdumb!" Bakugou yelled violently, followed by Yaoyorozu calling Todoroki 'naive' for thinking that attack would stop them.

The boy finally glanced back, however the moment he did, he was cast in a shadow that drowned out the sun, and in reflexive fear he snapped his gaze upwards, only to catch a glimpse of something orange zooming past.

 _'A tail-?!'_ the moment he twisted forward to follow it, his eye twitched at the sight of Midoriya taking the lead. He instantly launched a pillar of ice that rapidly encroached the boy and his dragon, however at the last second they swerved out of the way, dodging it with ease despite seemingly never looking behind.

It was only then, that Shoto noticed the small weasel that was facing backwards, watching him with diligence -likely to relay any attacks aimed at them from behind so that they could easily dodge.

Shoto knew they were already gaining far too much ground for him to be accurate or powerful in his attacks, so he growled beneath his breath and focused on Bakugou, who had already caught up and was now neck-and-neck with him.

"Outta my way, Icy-hot! _I'm winning this!"_ he threw his arm aside, releasing a smokey detonation that briefly blinded the other, but at the same time Todoroki had swept the explosive boy off out of the air by placing ice on the ground to trip his hovering legs.

 **"OHH! Would you look at that! Two powerhouses, Shoto Todoroki, the son of Endeavor, and Katsuki Bakugou, the second lead from the Entrance Exam have foiled each other's advances! Now Izuku Midoriya is charging ahead without any challenge, will** _ **anyone stop him?!"**_ the crowd screamed in delight at the dramatic performance Present Mic was putting on, whilst several other students began catching up on the two boys still picking themselves up off the ground.

 _'Damn it!'_ they both growled, before aiming their attention on the others who had just overtaken them, leaving their _unfinished business_ for after they were dealt with. Ashido launched past, trying her best to maintain balance as she skated on her acid that was eating into the ice coating the ground, whilst one Class-B student used their quirk to break the ice beneath them.

 _'I didn't expect so many people from Class A to avoid my attack...'_ Todoroki grunted to himself.

Just as some nameless back-ground character was in the middle of screaming his 'special attack' in an attempt to render the other students stuck, a giant metallic limb collided with them and struck them from the air, and suddenly the students were all made aware of the three _catastrophe-sized robots_ standing menacingly before them, which were soon enough followed by _half a dozen more_ that ruptured from the ground as more people arrived.

Within seconds, Sero launched forward through the air, swinging from one of the colossal robot's arms and skydiving past them, before continuing his momentum by swinging on some trees and lampposts, leaving everyone in awe. Soon enough, the others followed as they regained their nerve and strategised intuitively.

**~~One minute before~~**

"Zeph, dodge right!" Izuku passed on Bui's message as they narrowly avoided a pillar of ice. Izuku tried to reign in his ragged breathing and calm himself down like Riu had taught him.

It didn't help when three robots the size of King-Kong erupted from the track, motorised limbs hiring as they turned to lock onto them and knock them from the sky.

Unlike what Izuku had expected, however, they didn't do the obvious such as swing at them with their cumbersome hands. No, instead it seemed that Nedzu was challenging him and knew that they would try flying over the entire course, as several guns converged from within the robots' shoulders, and suddenly rubber pellets were firing towards them at a velocity that did more than _lightly bruise,_ to say the least.

"DUCK!" Izuku screamed as one rubber bullet aimed directly for his cranium whizzed past, the friction burning his cheek with a rash that stung. "Ow-ow-ow-ow! Bui, _use Waterfall directly ahead! Try to form a barrier to protect us!"_

Understanding where the boy was coming from, the Pokémon grunted as it built up its water-reserves for the powerful move. It would need to be large in size and last quite a while if it were to protect them all the way from every bullet aimed at them. _"BuiiiiiiiiiiiiiZEL!"_ in a sudden rush of power, a torrent of water emitted from his small form, far more than anyone would expect him capable of, and ahead of them a wall of gushing water with the kinetic energy of an actual waterfall, formed, neutralising the force of every bullet that passed through it either by slowing them down, altering their trajectory downwards by the drag of the water, or by stopping them outright.

Zephyr shivered at the sight of his biggest weakness in such magnitude, but continued tearing forward, determined not to let Izuku or the others down.

_'Izuku's gonna win this. We'll make sure of it!'_ the pair thought.

* * *

_*We all know Todoroki freezes all the giant robots during canon and Bakugou and some others manoeuvre around/push through them, so I can't be bothered to write that all out as well, so just imagine that the same things happened here and lets continue with some actual new story. :) *_

* * *

**"Hey hey, it seems that first obstacle was a piece of cake! Then what about the second? If you fall, you're out! If you don't wanna fall, then crawl! But beware, fly high and you'll find yourself as a major target!"**

Coming up on the next obstacle, Izuku abruptly tugged on the Charizard's neck (not choking him) after hearing Present Mic's announcement to stop him midair in urgency, and it was just in time, too, as before them lay a cavernous crevice that sunk one hundred feet deep, with several small centre rock platforms and singular rope's bridging between them.

Down beneath within the crevice, lay _thousands_ of barrels (attached to guns), all aiming directly up and waiting to fire as soon as the thin, red lasers hovering in the air were tripped.

They had stopped bare inches away from the gorge, and had they done not, there was no way on Earth that they would have been able to fly through the storm of rubber bullets fired, as the lasers were in an entirely randomised _grid_ of that spanned the entire horizontal distance of the course, and they were all only a few metres into the air- just high and scattered enough for people to have the room to jump between places, but still low enough for them to be forced to trip them if they continued flying, or forfeit their reign over the air. There was no way for them to fly above the laser, as there was a net that fenced off the course all the way to the other side and _further,_ insinuating that he could not skip this part and _had_ to go beneath. Not just that, but double checking, Izuku realised that there were even lasers all across the gorge spanning from a few metres down, meaning that they couldn't just fly low, either.

"Alright guys, time to switch up plans! Sorry Zeph, you've done amazing but it's time for us to leave the air for now!" he retracted the dragon, who was smiling proudly -knowing he had filled his part well in taking the lead for the entire race so far-. Bui, do you have the energy to do an aqua jet and carry us the distance across?"

"Bui..." the Pokémon pursed his lips and frowned, reluctantly shaking his head. "Buuiii..." _Sorry..._

"Don't worry about it, you've been just as great as Zeph! Just try and recuperate as best you can now." he then recalled Buizel, before deciding on his next course of action.

"Riu, I need you!" he called as he tossed the Pokeball and the blue/black furred bipedal canine appeared in a kneel, raising to his feet rapidly in preparation and already analysing the situation.

Izuku instantly got to work, "Riu, I need you to carry me on your back and get us across to the other side of this ravine. Can you do that?"

 _'On it.'_ unexpectedly, the Pokémon simply hoisted the boy onto his back by swinging him onto his shoulders, and within seconds they had already launched off. Every leap the Lucario made was precise and perfect, landing precariously on the ropes yet not losing balance once. It was rather incredible, the physicality Riu possessed, when Izuku really thought about it....

_But now wasn't the time for that!_ Izuku instantly panicked when he realised that some other students were finally catching up to them after all the time he'd spent switching his team, and they really had to pull off all the stops if they didn't want Bakugou or Todoroki to overtake them.

"LOOK OUT-!" He yelled as a shiver travelled down his spine and he _felt_ the ice approaching them without even looking.

Like an acrobat on an invisible trapezium, the Lucario flipped onto his hands (*front paws?) with Izuku startled by the incoming _ground,_ before they suddenly launched up into the air vertically and landed back on their feet upon the pillar of ice the boy behind them had just created.

**"Wow, would you look at that! What an impressive display of balance on ice!"**

Even now, whilst racing ahead upon uneven, jagged layers of ice, Riu retained his speed _and_ balance, momentum carrying them through until the edge of the ice finally appeared, with a forty-metre gap between it and the ledge of the other side of the canyon.

The Lucario didn't stop, and Izuku was about to scream -as he KNEW Riu couldn't make it this time, no matter what he did!- but just then, Riu yelled at Izuku, _'Recall me as soon as you land on the other side!!!'_ and with a sudden twist, Izuku felt two padded paws kick off on his back (without hurting him), and he was sent spinning and spinning and _spinning_ and Izuku felt sick and disorientated and dizzy, with everything rushing and blurring past him in fuzzy colours-

-He thumped to the ground, leaving his left foot barely hanging over the edge, and his mind instantly raced to action before he could overthink it. His hand snapped to the Pokétch on his wrist and he leant over the edge, pressing the button for the Lucario to recall before he reached the bottom netting and was disqualified from the race.

The light flashed, and he released a heavy sigh of relief -followed by a cough from the impact with the ground and the dust, but before he could gather his strength, an explosion launched above him and a malicious grin flashed on a familiar face.

_"Like I'd let you win, Deku!"_

Picking himself up and tracing the half-dozen students who had somehow passed him in his dizziness, he recalled Riu and fought every urge to pass out from the adrenaline.

"Riu- I- c-can't keep going..." his breath was light and voice was quiet. His entire body raked in shakes from everything had happened up until now.

"Don't worry, I'll carry you! _Just don't pass out!"_

"I-I'll... t-try... *huff*" he leant over and puked hard, but before he knew it they were racing forward once again.

**"A lot of different people are working hard for their chance, huh Eraserhead?**

**"Well, they have to. They know now after what they experienced against the League of Villains** **, that taking action comes first and foremost as a hero."**

_'I've got to win this! For Izuku!'_ Riu growled as he picked up the pace. Izuku was still conscious, and so long as that fact remained, he couldn't be disqualified for sure, but the boy clearly needed a moment to recollect his hectic thoughts and calm his jittery nerves.

Thinking of the technique the Lucario had secretly been practicing for situations like these (after what happened at the USJ), he began radiating a soothing, calming wave through his aura, directing it towards the boy. If the sigh he heard was any consolation, it seemed to be working like he hoped.

Up ahead, there were five visible contestants; Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida, a girl with hair akin to thorny vines, and a boy with white hair and a strange looking face that displayed wide eyes and an unnaturally toothy mouth.

Riu gritted his teeth as his legs pumped harder. The boy with engines in his legs (Iida) was taking the lead currently, with Bakugou and Todoroki just behind him, battling it out between themselves. No matter how hard he ran, he didn't think he could quite keep up with Iida, however one or two uses of Agility or Extreme Speed would likely get him beside the others. The only problem was that doing that would undoubtedly wear him out quite a lot...

Arms still looped around Izuku's legs to support him, he rapidly gained speed, almost doubling his velocity with a single use of Agility, however now from that single excessive exertion -added to what he had already been running for- his legs began to protest in strain when maintaining the force of their momentum.

For a moment, the Lucario considered doing another emergency fusion with the boy in order to receive the power boost he so desperately needed, but he knew that playing such a powerful trump card so early on would be detrimental to their chances of victory later in other, more challenging events.

 _'No, it's too early for that. I just have to push through!'_ he snarled when Bakugou fired a focussed explosion at him, aiming to knock him off his feet, but the Lucario persevered and managed to dodge out of the way. Up ahead, a comedic *BOOM* sounded and pink smoke exploded around the disappearing sight of Iida. It seemed that the last obstacle was some sort of minefield, and that the other boy was _just_ managing to outspend the chain reaction of the mines-

An image of Iida barrelling through the air submerged in pink dust sent a chill of terror down his back. _'Okay, outrunning the explosions is NOT an option...'_

**"Ah, it seems the final obstacle has quickly been reached! Too bad for Tenya Iida that he didn't get this memo, but the reality here is, that's a minefield! What do you have to say for this last barrier, Eraserhead?**

**_"Hhhhh, it's set up so that the mines are clearly visible if you look closely._ The only dilemma is whether you spend precious time and effort on avoiding all the mines, or find another solution... This obstacle, more than any, is made to disadvantage those in the lead of the race.** **"**

 **"In the lead are Bakugou and Todoroki, but who will win this final showdown?!?!"** the crowd screamed in vigour as Riu pulled up to the beginning of the minefield.

_'What do I do? What do I do?! If I try to outpace the mines, I'll end up like Engines over there did, especially with Izuku as added weight, but if I take it slow, we'll NEVER catch up in time! Not only that, but there's still no way that Zephyr could catch up by flight anymore at this point, they're almost at the end!'_

Amidst his internal panic, Izuku coughed lightly and scrunched his eyes, before picking apart the situation. Only one solution came to mind, and whether it was because he had some sort of concussion or induced delusions, he wasn't sure, but...

"B-build the mines up into a pile... We can launch ourselves across-" the boy hanging from his shoulders muttered weakly.

 _'No, the weight would be undistributed and uneven, we'd just careen sideways and likely get hurt anyway without some form of shield or carried between us and the explosions...'_ he responded, before gulping and shaking his head in nervousness. _'I just had a crazy idea. Just hold on.'_

They didn't have the time to keep discussing, so the boy simply placed his trust in his friend and gripped him tighter, head burrowing into Riu's neck-fluff and locking his legs in place around his waist.

Before he knew it, the two of them were blurring forward at speeds he'd never experienced, trees stretching like a condensed panoramic photo. At small intervals, for the shortest millisecond, the world contorted back to normal, as though they were a spaceship coming out of hyper-drive in the movies, however it was hard to pick out when their speed picked up once again almost without stop, until finally at the very end, Izuku felt the pair of them falling forwards rapidly- seeming likely that Riu had tripped from the unbearable momentum. They both went tumbling onto the dusty ground, coughing and wheezing for air -Izuku feeling sick, and Riu feeling beyond what 'exhausted' could describe. A tear made its way to Izuku's eye in the silence of the aftermath, as it felt as though time had stopped and they were just _waiting_ for the inevitable explosion to send them flying, but as his senses gradually cleared, he was made aware of the cheers and the shouting, and before long his gaze made its way to the spectators of the stadium, all of whom were staring at them with star-struck awe.

**"I... I'm not sure if I need to see a replay for that, but from what I think we all saw, in the last inch to the line, Izuku Midoriya overtook the others and WON!!! That's incredible! I've never seen such a close-call in my life, no-one could have expected this curve-ball outcome!"** Present Mic screeched, somehow seemingly twice as loud as he usually was- which lead everyone to believe _this_ was the Pro Hero truly shouting freely with his quirk.

_"We... We won?"_ he glanced over towards Riu, who had feinted and clearly required rest after that last part. "We _won. WE WON!"_ he instantly called out his other five Pokémon, who all swarmed him in excitement as soon as the situation was pieced together. "We came first!!! You guys, we really did it!"

_"Of course we did!"_

_"Yeah, what did you expect, Izu!"_

_"Like anyone could compare to THIS team!"_ they all shouted in celebration, blissfully ignorant of the other contestants slowly filtering in as spots on the leaderboard soon filled up.

Eyes training back to Riu, Izuku recalled the Pokémon with a soft, compassionate smile. He knew the Pokémon would slap him upside the head for feeling guilty, so he settled for pride instead.

 _'You guys are the best friends I could have ever asked for...'_ and with that, he lead him group back to one of the waiting rooms inside the stadium. He didn't want anyone seeing him using a Full Restore on the Lucario and it instantly heal him, as people may get the wrong idea that it's some kind of _wonder-drug,_ (They wouldn't know that it only works for his Pokémon).

After that, however, all they could do was wait the small interlude and prepare themselves for whatever events were still yet to come.


End file.
